


Double Trouble

by keq123



Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Family, M/M, Mpreg, parent trap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-01-24 00:11:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18559951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keq123/pseuds/keq123
Summary: A spring training hookup changes Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw's lives forever. Neither of them is prepared for what happens as a result of the hookup. They try to make it work, but can't seem to find a way, and sometimes, the right solution doesn't end up being the right one. Twelve years later, the secrets of that hookup prove to be too big to stay hidden, and their secret past catches up with them.





	1. No-Hitter

**Author's Note:**

> So I thought I was the only Bumshaw shipper and then I found another one on Tumblr and had to write a fanfic...

"Dad, can we get checked in already?" Ella pouted, slamming the trunk of the rental car shut as she and her father finished unloading her luggage. She’d spent the last few months counting down the weeks until softball camp started and now it was finally here. She was going to live in a college dorm for the next few weeks and get to play against girls from all over the country.

Ella chattered away as she and her father made their way to check-in. “I knew I would get in! I bet I’m going to be an even better pitcher than I am now at the end of camp, since the best in the country are here to teach me. I’m going to win every game for my team. I’m going to strike out every girl who comes up to bat against me, Dad, and I’m going to tell them I learned it from you, my father, Madison Bumgarner, a three-time World Series champion and the 2014 World Series MVP...” She giggled and bounced around, her hazel eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Ella,” Madison interrupted. “Remember what we talked about on the way here?”

Ella rolled her eyes. “Yes. I’m a great pitcher, but the other girls here are really great players too, and I can learn from them.”

“That’s right,” Madison said. “I learned a lot from the guys on the opposing teams when I was in MLB. Many of them made me a better player and were great guys.” One in particular...

His thoughts were interrupted when he and Ella reached the front of the check-in line. “Hi!” Ella told the camp counselor. “I’m Ella Bumgarner and this is my father, three-time World Series champion and 2014 World Series MVP, Madison Bumgarner.”

“Ella,” Madison whispered firmly.

The counselor looked up. “Wow, a World Series champion! Nice to meet you, Ella. You’ll probably be happy to hear that we put you on the Giants after seeing your videos for assessments.”

Ella squealed with excitement. “Just like you were!”

“Yes,” Madison said, taking the paperwork.

“So, Ella, you’re in Room 105,” the counselor continued as Madison finished filling out the paperwork. “You have about an hour to unpack your things, and then teams will be meeting up. The first game will be tonight and you guys will be playing the Dodgers.”

“Hurry up, Dad!” Ella begged. “I want to go meet my roommate! Maybe she’s on the Giants, too!”

Madison handed the paperwork to the counselor as the father and daughter made their way down the halls. Girls and their families were filing into the rooms. Father and daughter reached Room 105, which had the names Ella and Emma on the door.

Emma. Madison stopped in his tracks. After all these years, that name could set him off.

Ella opened the door to see two beds and dressers. “Looks like my roommate isn’t here yet,” she said, interrupting her father’s thoughts.

“Yeah, I guess not,” Madison said, helping his daughter unpack. Even after they’d made Ella’s bed and loaded up her clothes in the dresser, her roommate hadn’t shown up.

“I kind of want to meet the other girls on my floor now,” Ella said.

“Okay,” Madison said. He knew how excited Ella was. This had been all she’d talked about for weeks. So he didn’t want to let her know that he was a bit sad she’d be gone for the next few weeks. He was worried he’d be lonely. “Are you sure you want to fly back home by yourself at the end of camp? I’d be happy to come out here and get you.” He’d get to see her sooner that way.

“I wanted to fly out here by myself!” Ella laughed. “Dad, I’m growing up! I want to be more independent.”

“I know you’re growing up,” Madison admitted. That was true. She was growing up.

“I’m going to miss you, you know,” Ella giggled. “I promise I’ll call.”

Madison managed a smile. “I’m going to miss you too.” He pulled Ella into a hug. “You have fun this summer, okay?”

“I will!” Ella said confidently, hugging her father. She felt a twinge of sadness as she watched him leave. It had always just been the two of them and they were very close. But she was at her first softball camp and was going to show everyone what a great pitcher she was. That was enough to get her excited again.

Ella sat around her room still waiting for her roommate, but she still wasn’t showing up. Knowing team meetings would start soon, she went to the room next door, where two girls were sitting on the beds talking.

“Hi, I’m Ella. I’m in the room next door. My roommate hasn’t shown up yet, so I thought I’d come say hi.”

The girls smiled. “Hi! I’m Mia and this is Lily,” one girl said. “I’m from Michigan and she’s from Colorado. Where are you from?”

“I’m from North Carolina,” Ella said. “I’m a pitcher.” She decided to follow her dad’s advice and not talk about her dad’s World Series victories just yet. She talked with Mia and Lily, glancing out the door every so often to see if her roommate had shown up. Eventually, it was about time for the team meetings. Maybe Ella’s roommate wasn’t coming.

* * *

 

Emma looked out the window as her father drove the rental car into the parking lot. Their flight had been delayed and she was getting to camp late. She was already worried about starting things on a bad foot. She’d been nervous about camp for weeks. Her father had suggested she go to camp to help her break out of her shell. She had to admit, she was a good pitcher and she loved playing, so maybe camp could be fun. She just got so nervous in social situations.

Emma looked at the clock. “I remember it said team meetings started at 4 and it’s almost 4.”

“I’m sorry,” her father sighed. “I know you’re nervous and I’m sure our flight being delayed didn’t help with that.” 

As the father and daughter took the luggage out of the rental car, Emma took in the scene. They made their way to check in. The dorm was quiet. The girls whose flights hadn’t been delayed were probably already at their team meetings. What would the girls think if Emma showed up late to the team meeting?

Emma let her father do the talking as they arrived at the check-in table. “Hi, I’m Clayton Kershaw, and this is my daughter, Emma. I’m sorry we’re late.”

“Don’t worry, things happen,” the camp counselor said. At least she was okay with it. She smiled at Emma. “Welcome, Emma. You’re in Room 105, and you’re on the Dodgers.”

Emma managed a smile when she heard which team she was on. “That’s what I was hoping for!” she told Clayton.

“I was hoping for that, too,” Clayton said. “How about we get your things to your room, and then you can go to the team meeting?”

“Okay,” Emma agreed. As they made their way down the hall, Emma felt her nerves coming back. She was going to miss her dad so much this summer. It had always been just the two of them at home and she told him everything.

Finally, they reached Room 105. Clayton looked at the names on the door. Ella and Emma. Ella. Emma’s roommate’s name was Ella. Every time he heard of a girl named Ella, his mind immediately went to his other daughter, far away at who knew where. Where was Ella now? What did she look like? What did she like to do? What was she like?

“Daddy?” Emma’s voice broke Clayton out of his trance.

“Sweetie, are you sure you don’t want me to come out here at the end of camp and get you?” Clayton asked, sitting on the bed next to Emma.

Emma wasn’t entirely sure. She wasn’t sure if she liked the idea of flying home by herself, but she wanted to prove to herself that she could do it. “Yeah, I’m sure. We’ll talk on the phone every day.”

Clayton pulled Emma in for a hug. “I love you, Emma. I’m sure you’re going to have a lot of fun this summer. You’re going to be playing the game you love with a bunch of girls who love it as much as you do.” He’d been dreading saying goodbye to her for the next few weeks as well. The two of them were much closer than the average father and daughter and would spend many nights just sitting in the living room talking. So many kids grew distant from their parents as they got older, but that wasn’t the case with Emma.

“I love you, too,” Emma whispered before pulling apart to finish unpacking. When the room was set up, Emma figured it was time to go to her team meeting. She had to admit, she was happy that she’d been put on the Dodgers. Her father had pitched for the Dodgers. She was pretty proud of the fact that he’d won NL MVP and pitched a no-hitter.

Finally, the room was set up and it was really time to say goodbye. Clayton pulled his daughter in for one last hug. At least this goodbye was temporary. He’d be seeing Emma again in a few weeks and they could talk on the phone. Still, he was sad to be saying goodbye. He didn’t want to convey that he was dreading being lonely at home for a few weeks.

Emma took off for her team meeting, hoping the coach and the other girls on the team wouldn’t be mad at her for being late. “Sorry I’m late,” she said, entering the room. “My flight was delayed.”

“Don’t worry,” the coach said. Emma looked at the coach and saw that she didn’t look disappointed. None of the other girls in the room looked annoyed that she was late, either. That was something. “You must be Emma Kershaw,” the coach continued. “You’re a pitcher, right?”

“Yeah,” Emma said proudly.

“None of the other pitchers wanted to pitch in tonight’s game,” the coach continued. “Maybe because it’s the first night and they didn’t want to do the first game. Would you be willing to?”

Emma wasn’t sure if she wanted to pitch in the first game. What if she made a mistake? Still, she wanted her teammates to have a good opinion of her. “Sure.”

So far, Ella was loving camp. She liked the other girls on the Giants and the food had been good in the dining hall. But she was most excited for the first practice game tonight. She’d volunteered to pitch right away. The Giants would be playing the Dodgers. She knew that in MLB, that was as big as it got. And she was going to make that a big deal here, too.

The girls made their way to the diamond. Since the Giants had been granted home team status, the game would begin with Ella pitching. She smiled wide as she struck out the first three batters. Her father had told her not to brag, but she was a good pitcher. Just like her father. Her rec league team had never lost a game with her on the mound.

These girls all sounded like good hitters, so Ella was sure that they’d hit some runs. However, when the Dodgers pitcher took the mound, the first three batters struck out as well. Oh well. It was only the first inning. There was time to make it up.

Emma felt pressure when the first three Dodgers batters struck out. The girl pitching for the Giants was clearly good. She had a throw and an arm to rival Emma’s. However, Emma felt some relief when she struck out the first three Giants batters.

However, the game continued to move at the same rate. Neither team got a single hit. No one even walked. Ella and Emma had each struck out every batter on the opposing team at least once and when girls did hit the ball, the defense caught it.

Ella couldn’t help but feel anger building up. Who was this girl? And why was she such a good pitcher? Why was she stealing Ella’s spotlight?

Emma began to feel more and more nervous. Even though she was shy, she could pitch. And now there was a girl here who was as good as she was.

It was the top of the ninth with two outs and the game was still scoreless with no walks and no hits. The camp staff talked about how a first night game had never gone to extras and this was the most intense first night game they’d seen. Ella smiled to herself. Surely this other girl would be getting tired by now. Both girls had pitched the entire game. All Ella had to do was strike out this last batter, or at least get her to ground out or fly out, and then the Giants could get a run in the bottom of the ninth.

Ella threw the ball. The girl hit the ball. It flew out of the diamond. She made her way around the bases and touched home plate.

Ella was mortified. She could barely look when a one was added to the scoreboard for the Dodgers. 

Emma smiled as she high-fived Ali, the girl who had just hit the run. All she had to do now was keep the last three Giants batters from getting hits and she’d be starting off her time at camp with a perfect game.

In the bottom of the ninth, Emma walked the first batter. There went her perfect game hopes. There was still hope for a no-hitter though. The second batter struck out and the third grounded out to a double play.

The Dodgers had won.

Ella watched in horror as the Dodgers ran onto the mound to congratulate their pitcher. Who was that girl? And why was she so good? Ella apologized for letting the one girl hit a run. Many of the other girls on the team talked about how it was just the first game, but how could that girl stop Ella from getting a no-hitter? Crap, this girl had gotten a no-hitter.

The teams lined up to shake hands, Ella reluctantly getting at the end of the line. When she reached the end of the line, there was #22. The pitcher. She looked into this girl’s eyes, trying to hold in her anger.

And she couldn’t help but notice that this girl had the same hazel eyes she did.

Emma was at the end of the line. She felt a bit nervous as she waited to shake hands with the Giants pitcher. The girl’s number had been 40. “Good game,” she mumbled, though the girl glared at her.

And when the girl glared at her, Emma couldn’t help but notice something. This girl looked like her. They had the same eye and hair colors, their noses were similar and the girl had the same oval face shape. Emma gasped as Ella gave her a glare and turned and stormed off.

Not only did this girl beat Ella, but she also looked way too much like her for Ella’s comfort. She left the field and went back to her room to shower, hoping to avoid her a lot this summer.


	2. Roommates

Emma walked back to her room feeling so proud of herself. She’d thrown a no-hitter on her first night at camp. The other girls on her team had praised her. Her coach had named her and Ali players of the game. She’d been nervous about camp, but the game had gone well and the other girls on her team seemed nice. Maybe it would be a good experience after all.

When Emma got back to her room, the shower was on and the bathroom door was closed. Since she wouldn’t be meeting her roommate yet, Emma got out her phone to call her father and tell him about her no-hitter. She had a feeling he would be so proud.

Clayton looked at his phone and saw that it was Emma. Hoping things were going well at camp, he picked up the phone. “Hey, Emma!”

“Daddy, I threw a no-hitter!” Emma said excitedly.

Clayton felt a sense of relief when he heard the excitement in his daughter’s voice, a big contrast to how nervous she was at the airport. And a no-hitter? Even better. “Wow! That’s amazing! I’m so proud of you!”

Emma smiled to herself. “Thanks, Daddy. The girl on the other team was a really good pitcher, too. We only got one hit, but that one hit ended up being a run, so we won the game We were playing the Giants, actually. You know that Dodger victories over the Giants are special!”

The Giants. First there was Emma's roommate's name, now she'd played the Giants. Reminders were everywhere. Still, he tried to stay composed. “Wow! That sounds great. I’m so glad you’re enjoying camp so far.”

“I really am,” Emma said. “The other girls on the Dodgers seem nice.”

“What about your roommate?” Clayton asked. Her roommate who had the same name as her sister.

“I still haven’t met her,” Emma said.

As if on cue, Emma heard the bathroom door open. Her roommate was finished with her shower. “Actually, it sounds like she’s back in the room, so I’m going to meet her now! I just wanted to tell you about my no-hitter.”

“Okay, Em, have a good night,” Clayton said. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Daddy,” Emma said. She hung up her phone and turned to face the girl who’d just come out of the shower. The Giants’ pitcher.

* * *

 

Clayton hung up the phone and went to his drawer. He pulled out a photo album Emma didn't know about, a photo album filled with pictures from his and Madison's relationship and from the few months the two girls were together. He'd given a few photos to Emma, but he hadn't told her the whole story. At first, he thought it would come out, but she was twelve now. Maybe as hard as it was, this was how things should be.

Still, his mind went back to that summer thirteen years ago...

* * *

 

"Kersh!"

Clayton turned and saw the Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts, calling out to him as the team headed for the showers. He looked at his manager to let him know he was listening.

"You feeling alright?" Dave asked.

"Yeah." The truth was, he wasn't feeling alright. It had been a few weeks now. He lost energy easily. The team's simple warmup exercises exhausted him. Games were even more tiring. He constantly had to go to the bathroom. His head hurt. He was always dizzy. And it seemed like every morning, he got sick. He thought it was a bug, but it must be more than that. It had been going on far too long to be a bug. Maybe it was a virus?

"I've had several guys on the team tell me you've thrown up in the clubhouse a few times lately."

Crap. He couldn't keep this hidden. It was odd. He often felt fine once these spells were over. "I'm sorry, I think I've just been eating too much lately." That was another weird thing. Usually when someone gets sick, they lose their appetite, but he was hungry all the time. "Don't worry, I'm all ready to start the all-star game. I'm working hard as ever." At least he hoped he was. What if he was too sick to pitch then?

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Dave interrupted. "I've noticed you've been sick a lot lately. The other coaches have noticed. Your teammates have noticed. Go to the doctor or you're not starting the all-star game."

He groaned. This was definitely the way to get him to go to the doctor, but he didn't want to go. He just wanted to go on with life and wait for this to pass.

* * *

 

"Is everything okay?"

A few hours at the doctor had passed. It had definitely been the strangest doctor visit Clayton had ever had. He'd told the doctor about everything that had been going on over the past few weeks and the doctor had done so many blood tests and scans, he'd lost count. Other doctors had been brought in, and that made him even more concerned. What was going on?

"What I'm about to tell you might shock you," the doctor said. "First of all, let me say, you're in perfect health, but you need to be REALLY careful these next few months."

That didn't make sense. "I'm in perfect health, but I have to be careful?"

"I'm just going to come out and say it because there's no way you're prepared to hear this: you're pregnant."

Clayton started to laugh. "That's a good one." Then he looked at the doctor's face and saw that the doctor wasn't laughing. "That's impossible. Men can't get pregnant."

"Most men can't, that's correct," the doctor said. "But a few do have organs that let it happen. The number of cases that have been seen is very small, but it can happen."

Clayton couldn't believe what he'd just heard. He was pregnant. He didn't know his body was capable of this. And there was a baby inside him. A baby. He was going to be a father. Holy shit. He tried to look for the right words to say. "So... anything I should know?"

"We'll need to approach this very carefully. Male pregnancies are definitely more complicated."

"Okay." He was still processing this.

"It looks like you're near the end of your first trimester," the doctor continued. "Now, do you have any idea who might have helped make this happen?"

Yeah. He knew. There was only one person who could have helped make this happen. And what would that person think when he found out? They'd both been drunk. They hadn't meant for this to happen. They didn't expect it to be more than a hookup. How was he going to react? "Yeah, I'll talk to him."

* * *

 

Ella’s mouth dropped when she saw who her roommate was. She’d already been absolutely humiliated. How was it possible that she’d managed to strike out every batter on the other team, but still lose the game? Even worse, how had this other girl managed to pitch a no-hitter? Her shower had helped her cool down, but when she saw that the girl who’d outpitched her was her roommate, her anger came back. “So, you’re my roommate,” Ella said, holding back the disgust in her voice.

“Guess so,” Emma said. She could already tell Ella didn’t like her. “I’m Emma, I’m from Texas. You’re Ella, I saw on the door.”

“So, you couldn’t wait to brag to Daddy, huh?” Ella asked, feeling annoyed. She’d been hoping to be the one to make that call. “Oh, Daddy, I pitched a no-hitter!” she said in a mocking tone.

“It was one game,” Emma said. Why was Ella so upset?

No, it was more than one game. This was the first time Ella had ever been outpitched. “Why are you calling Daddy so soon anyway? Are you homesick?” Maybe Emma was homesick. If she was homesick, maybe she wouldn’t stick around.

Emma didn’t know how to respond. She hadn’t been feeling homesick, but now she was starting to since her roommate apparently hated her. “I wanted to tell him. You struck out every batter, you still have something to be proud of. Don’t you want to tell your parents?”

Ella groaned. What mattered is that she’d blown her perfect game and her team had lost. “For the record, your throw sucks. You don’t have a good arm. You just got lucky.” She tried to think of things to say. “I learned all about pitching from my dad. You see, he’s a three-time World Series champion, he won those titles in a five-year span, and he was MVP in the 2014 World Series.” Madison had told her not to brag about who her dad was, but this girl might as well know Ella had learned from the best.

“Oh really?” Emma shot back. “Well, for your information, my dad was an MLB pitcher, too. He was the NL MVP in 2014. And he pitched a no-hitter. Just like his daughter.”

“All that matters is World Series wins,” Ella snapped. “No one cares about the regular season. You didn't mention if he ever won a World Series."

“Then if no one cares about the regular season, why are you so obsessed with ONE game?” Emma sneered.

A knock on the door interrupted the girls. Ella went to open the door and saw the hall counselor. “What’s going on in here?” she asked.

“Why was I forced to live with her?” Ella demanded. If she hadn’t had to see more of Emma, she probably would have cooled down.

“They sorted room assignments by birthdays,” the counselor said.

Ella turned to Emma. “When’s your birthday?” Maybe she could find someone with a closer birthday to switch rooms with if that was how they did it.

Emma sighed, not wanting to argue. “December 19, 2019.”

Ella gasped. This girl had shown up with her face, handed her the first loss of her softball career and had now stolen her birthday.

“So, what’s going on in here, ladies?” the counselor repeated.

“She’s mad that I’m a better pitcher than she is,” Emma said. She knew Ella was a good pitcher, but she’d been the one to pitch the no-hitter.

“I wouldn’t get arrogant, Ella,” the counselor said. “There are going to be a lot of games over the next few weeks.”

“I’m Emma,” Emma mumbled.

“I’m sorry, you two look alike,” the counselor said. “But there are going to be a lot of games. I’m sure there will be games you both win and you both lose. And you should both be proud that you were good enough to get into this camp. Thousands of girls were turned away.”

“But you heard her,” Ella said. “And I am going to beat you next time our teams play each other.”

“Girls, stop it,” the counselor said. “It was one game and it’s not worth this. If you two keep this up, I’ll tell your coaches to bench you tomorrow.”

The girls fell silent as the counselor left. “I’m going to take a shower,” Emma mumbled, walking to the shower.

Ella flopped on the bed, still feeling annoyed. However, she didn’t want to be benched. She’d made fun of Emma for calling her father, but she needed to rant to her father as well. She got out her phone and dialed his number.

* * *

 

Madison saw that his phone was ringing and that it was Ella. “Hey, Ella!”

“Hi Dad,” Ella said, trying not to let him know she was annoyed.

“So, how’s camp?” Madison asked.

Ella tried to focus on the positive. “Well, I struck out all the batters in my team’s first game tonight.”

Madison could sense that his daughter wasn’t happy about something. “You don’t sound too happy for someone who struck out all the batters.”

Ella knew she couldn’t fool her father. “Because we still lost the game! The other team’s pitcher pitched a no-hitter and I gave up a home run and we lost! And now this girl is my roommate and we hate each other!”

Madison listened to his daughter. “I’m sorry you lost the game, but it’s still pretty good that you came that close to a no-hitter.”

“I guess,” Ella said. “My roommate is just so annoying. I have to share a room with the girl who beat me.”

“You never know Ella, you could learn from her,” Madison encouraged. “I told you, so many of the guys on other teams when I was in MLB made me a better player.”

“I guess,” Ella sighed. She said goodbye to her father when she heard the water turn off in the bathroom.

When Emma returned from the bathroom, she simply said she was tired and asked if it was okay to turn out the lights. Ella had to admit she was tired, so she was fine with that. The girls lay in their beds in silence until they fell asleep.

* * *

 

Ella's team had played the Dodgers. She was complaining about the Dodgers pitcher. Immediately, Madison's mind went to another Dodgers pitcher, one who had been a pain in the ass for the Giants, but who ended up giving him the best thing in his life and changing his life so much. It was around this time thirteen years ago that they'd had that life-changing conversation...

* * *

 

"Hey, Bumgarner!" Bruce Bochy shouted.

"What's up?" Madison asked as the team finished putting their things away for the game.

"The Dodgers manager just talked to me," Bruce continued. "Kershaw wants to talk to you in one of the meeting rooms in the clubhouse."

What the hell? "What?" He didn't know the Dodgers' ace very well. He seemed nice. They'd spent some time together. They'd talked. They'd even gotten drunk and had sex at spring training. But why did he want to talk to him alone? Why didn't he just come over to him on the field?

"It didn't make sense to me either," Bruce admitted. "But Roberts told me this was important."

"Whatever," Madison mumbled to himself. The all-star game was next week. They'd both made the all-star team. He'd heard through the grapevine that Clayton had been sick a lot lately. Maybe he couldn't pitch and was going to ask Madison to pitch instead?

Madison made his way into the Dodgers clubhouse, where Clayton was waiting. Madison noticed that his opponent looked absolutely terrified. This was weird. "Hi," he said, still wondering what the hell was going on.

"Hi," Clayton said. He bit his lip. "Can we go into that meeting room for a minute?"

"Sure," Madison mumbled, following Clayton into the meeting room.

Clayton closed the door of the meeting room. "Hey." He began pacing around the room and breathing heavily. "You remember - that party at spring training?"

"Yeah, of course," Madison said. As opponents, they kind of had an unspoken agreement not to talk about what happened. But the truth was, Madison had enjoyed it. "You can pretend you didn't hear this if you want, but you were the best I ever had."

Clayton gave him an awkward smile, but still looked nervous. "I can say the same for you. But that wasn't just another hookup." He took a deep breath. "What I'm about to tell you will change everything."

Oh, crap. "Holy shit, you have an STD that you gave me, don't you?"

"No! I'll just come out and say it: I'm pregnant."

What? That was impossible. Madison started laughing. "Ha, that's funny. If you wanted to lighten the mood, that was a great one! But can you tell me what the hell is going on?"

"I'm pregnant. I'm not kidding. I was shocked, too. I had a few doctors confirm it. But apparently there are some men who can get pregnant and I'm one of them."

Madison noticed how serious Clayton looked. "Holy fucking shit, this is really happening, isn't it?"

"Yeah. This is really happening."

He looked across from him at his opponent's flat stomach. Well, it wasn't entirely flat. There was a very small, barely noticeable bump as if he'd just been eating more. A bump that would get bigger over the next few months. He'd never seen one of those on a male before. And under that bump was his child. Their (!) child. "Wow." What else was there to say?

"Look, I know you didn't expect this, I didn't either," Clayton continued. "So I'm not going to put any pressure on you. You can be as involved as you want. But this is your child as much as mine, so you should know."

He noticed the fear in his opponent's eyes. Holy shit, he had a child now. They had a child now. He didn't think he needed to use a condom when having sex with another male. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm processing it. Are you okay?"

It probably hadn't really hit him since he wasn't sure what he was thinking or feeling now. "Yeah. A baby... wow."

"Like I told you, I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want to do."

How was Clayton being so calm? Madison was freaking out. "How did this even happen? Does anyone else know?"

"My mom, my manager, some of the coaches, some doctors. If you don't want me to tell people it's yours, I won't..."

The door of the meeting room opened, and some media representatives came in. "Can we have this room?"

The two pitchers exchanged a look. "Sure," they said at the same time. Madison was relieved they'd been interrupted because he didn't know what else to say or how to react. He'd gotten another man pregnant. He'd gotten his opponent pregnant.

Clayton grabbed a piece of paper and wrote something down before handing it to Madison. "That's my number."

"Thanks," Madison mumbled. As he watched Clayton leave, it started to hit him. A baby. He was going to have a kid. This didn't seem real.


	3. Realization

When Ella woke up the next morning, she noticed that Emma had already left their room. At least last night, Emma had been quiet after their shower. Ella thought about her conversation with her father. Emma was a good pitcher. She COULD learn from her. And she didn't like that the fact that the counselor had gotten mad at her yesterday.

Ella went down to the cafeteria and saw Emma sitting with some other girls. She walked up behind her roommate and tapped her shoulder. "You weren't in our room this morning."

Emma had surprisingly slept well last night. She'd been worried about that leading up to camp. When she went downstairs for breakfast, some of the other girls on the Dodgers had seen her and invited her to have breakfast with them. Her good mood was ruined when her roommate came up to her though. "Why do you care? So you can say something else about my throw?"

Ella couldn't believe that she'd considered apologizing to this girl. "Actually, I just noticed that you weren't there. But now that you bring that up, you don't have a very good arm. You just got lucky yesterday." All anyone thought of her was that she was a bossy, critical diva with a good throw and she was sick of it.

"You're being ridiculous," Emma groaned. "I think you just can't handle the fact that someone beat you. You're such a brat, Ella Bumgarner. You probably think that just because your dad won three World Series titles in five years that you're the best pitcher ever and now you can't handle that you lost a game."

Ella didn't know what to say now. "Yes, I'm proud of all those titles, but at least I don't think one good game makes me better than someone with a horrible throw. And I don't remember you mentioning any World Series titles! How many of those are there at your house?"

Suddenly, the girls looked up and saw the camp director. "Miss Bumgarner, Miss Kershaw, come with me."

Emma gulped. She was in trouble. Maybe she shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. She was probably going to be benched now. No, worse, what if she got kicked out of camp? The other girls on her team seemed to like her.

Ella didn't make eye contact as she and Emma followed the camp director into the hall. She should have tried to get along with her roommate instead of getting defensive right away. What if she got sent home? She'd been so excited for camp.

The camp director looked at the girls. “Girls, I heard your hall counselor had to speak to you about this last night. This sort of behavior is not what we come to camp to do. This camp is about becoming better players and appreciating each other’s talent.”

“Please don’t call my dad,” Ella mumbled.

The camp director sighed. “I’ll give you girls a chance. For the rest of the day, you girls need to go to your room and can’t participate in activities. Either you’ll learn to get along or your parents will get a call.”

Neither girl could think of anything to say as the camp director led them to their room. “You girls better not get in another fight in here,” she said. “Or else you’ll get sent home. You better learn to get along. Or at least ignore each other.”

The director left the two girls in their room.

Ella flopped on her bed, feeling mad at herself. She and her dad had talked before she left for camp about how she needed to appreciate other people more while she was here. She’d already managed to make an enemy and most of it was her fault.

Emma felt so angry at herself. Her dad had hoped that she would make friends at camp, but she’d already screwed up.

A few hours passed, and the girls sat quietly in their room. While they weren’t speaking, at least they weren’t arguing. Every so often, one of them would glance out the window at the other girls doing their activities, knowing that they weren’t participating because of their behavior. Eventually, it started thunderstorming.

Ella had never liked thunderstorms. Neither did her father, which was probably why she didn’t. She looked at Emma across the room, who was reading a book on her bed. She remembered the camp director’s words. They did need to start getting along. “Emma?”

Emma looked up from her book, hoping insults weren’t coming. “Yeah?”

“I’m sorry,” Ella said. “You’re a really good pitcher. Come on, you pitched a no-hitter.”

Emma was surprised by the compliment. “Thanks. You’re really good, too. Come on, the best in the country are here and you only had one batter hit you. I’m sure you’ll have a no-hitter before we leave.” She realized she hadn’t been nice either. “I’m sorry I called you a brat.”

“My dad told me that I need to appreciate other people more,” Ella admitted.

“I’m sorry I insulted your dad, too,” Emma said. “Winning three World Series titles in five years is very impressive.”

Ella managed a smile. “And I’m sorry I insulted your dad.” She looked out the window. “Speaking of thunderstorms, my dad hates thunderstorms. He’s a tough guy, but whenever it thunderstorms, he always gets upset and wants me to sit with him. He won’t tell me about it, but apparently, the worst thing that ever happened to him happened during a thunderstorm.”

“So, is it just you and your dad?” Emma asked.

“Yeah,” Ella said. “He and I are like best friends. We do everything together.” She reached into her bag and handed a photo to Emma. “Here’s a photo of the farm we live on, actually.”

Emma looked at the photo. “Wow, it’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, that’s the view from my bedroom,” Ella said. “So, it seems like you’re super close with your dad, too.”

“Yeah, I am,” Emma said. “Like you and your dad, we do everything together, and I talk to him about everything. I guess that’s what happens when it’s just the two of us. Speaking of my dad, he really doesn’t like thunderstorms, either. He told me that he had a bad breakup during a thunderstorm and every time it storms, his mind goes back to that night.” She wasn't sure if she could share the details just yet, but her father had broken up with her other father during a thunderstorm.

* * *

 

"I'm sorry I'm here so late," Madison said, coming into the condo. "As you can see, the weather's pretty horrible out. At least we were playing the Angels, so I could drive in tonight. If we'd been somewhere where I'd have to fly here, I don't think I would have been able to fly out tonight. How are the girls?"

"They're asleep," Clayton said. "It was hard to get them to sleep tonight. I don't think they're fans of thunderstorms."

"Well, I'm sorry you had to deal with that by yourself," Madison said.

They sat in the living room in silence. Over the last few weeks, things had grown increasingly uneasy. They knew from the beginning that this would be complicated, but they didn't know just how hard it would be. The girls had to travel with Clayton and the Dodgers since he was the one who could chest feed them. Madison came out on the Giants' days off and Clayton's mom would also travel and watch the girls during games. It wasn't what either of them wanted, but with their jobs, this was the best solution.

"Are you okay?" Madison asked. "You're being quiet."

Clayton tried to find the right words to say. "I really don't want to live like this anymore."

"Live like what?" Madison asked.

"I don't like that we're keeping our daughters' existence a secret," Clayton continued.

"Well, you see what people are like!" Madison protested. "Can you imagine what they would say about us if they found out?"

"So you're telling me you care more about your reputation than about your children?" Clayton asked. "And even if it wasn't a secret, sometimes it feels like I'm doing everything. I'm the one who changes the diapers and feeds them when they're up in the middle of the night and loses sleep and comes home right after games..."

"Well, we're on different teams," Madison protested. "It makes sense for them to travel with you since you can chest feed them and I can't. I'm not too happy I don't get to see them much either, but we're making it work."

"This isn't working!" Clayton protested. "The girls need both their dads. Our managers both know about the situation. Maybe we should go to them and try to work something out. Maybe if we were on the same team..."

"You're asking me to leave the Giants?" Madison practically shouted. "I've been through everything with those guys! We won three World Series together and we had the worst record in the NL together. And here you are, asking me to leave them? I can't believe how selfish you're being!"

Selfish? "Me? Selfish?" Clayton shot back. "I'm the one who takes care of our daughters except when I'm at the park because you're away with your team most of the time! You've missed milestones! Ella rolled over today and you weren't there. I don't want you to miss their first steps and their first words!"

Madison didn't want to miss that, either. "Well, I can't very well fly to wherever the Dodgers are after every game! Why don't you come to the Giants instead if you think we should be on the same team to make this work?"

"You're the one who suggested this arrangement," Clayton shot back. "You're the one who wanted to keep this a secret. I didn't. I'm the one who had to fake an injury during the last two months of last season so no one would see my body and figure out what was going on! I wouldn't want to leave the Dodgers either, but this isn't working!"

"You told me at the beginning that I could be as involved as I wanted," Madison snarled. "You knew that there was a possibility you'd do this by yourself. What if I'd told you that I didn't want to be involved? Would you be complaining?" 

"Well, I wouldn't be keeping my own daughters' existence a secret if I was doing this by myself!" Clayton snapped.

"You know how nasty people can get!" Madison shouted. "Do you really want that? Do you really want to put our daughters through that?"

Before Clayton could respond, cries filled the apartment. "Great, after how long it took to get them to sleep, they're awake," Clayton grumbled.

"Well, since you were just whining about how hard it was to get them to sleep, I'm going to prove to you that I can get them to sleep," Madison shot back.

Clayton shrugged. "Go ahead."

Madison went to the nursery, where Ella was fast asleep and Emma was on her back with tears in her eyes. He picked up Emma and cradled her, but her cries didn't go down. Maybe she was hungry. He carried her into the living room, where Clayton was on the couch. The thunder and lightning had gotten louder, and with that, Emma's cries were louder. "Do you think she's hungry?" Madison asked Clayton.

Clayton shook his head. "That's not the hungry noise."

There was a hungry noise? Maybe Clayton was right. Maybe Madison wasn't around enough. He cradled Emma, whispering to her, kissing her gently, trying to calm her down, but nothing worked. Then Emma's eyes fell on Clayton. She reached out her arms in his direction.

"Emma, you need to get back to sleep, your daddies are tired," Madison said.

Emma just kept crying and began squirming, still looking over at Clayton. Then Madison got it. She wanted Clayton. He handed their daughter to his boyfriend, who cradled her in his arms and kissed her gently. "Don't cry, baby girl," Clayton said softly, putting another kiss on Emma's head. "Daddy's here."

Almost immediately, Emma snuggled up to Clayton and stopped crying. Did the girls like Clayton better? "Wow," Madison snapped. "So she wanted you."

Clayton didn't know what to say. Madison was already upset and he didn't want to make things worse. "I don't think that's it. I do think we should figure something else out."

"You're right," Madison said. "This isn't working." He left the living room as Clayton took Emma, who had fallen asleep, back to the nursery.

Clayton then followed Madison into their bedroom, where he saw his boyfriend throwing a suitcase together. "What are you doing?"

"I'm tired of this, too," Madison shouted. "I'm tired of having to fly here on my days off, I'm tired of never seeing my own daughters, and most importantly, I'm tired of fighting with you, Clayton Edward Kershaw!"

"I'm not disagreeing with any of that, but why do you insist on keeping it a secret that we have daughters?" Clayton shot back.

"Stop obsessing over that, God," Madison groaned. "You were whining about having to take care of them yourself when I'm not here. Well, I'm taking them to San Francisco with me and you won't have to worry about diapers and middle of the night feedings and having to rush home after games anymore, and maybe they'll stop freaking out when I hold them!"

Madison's words hit Clayton. "I am not letting you take them away from me!"

Madison went into the girls' room and began throwing some of the things in there in another suitcase. "It's only fair. You've gotten them to yourself for most of the season so far and you were just complaining about how hard it is."

"I love my daughters!" Clayton shouted. "NO matter how hard it is, they are the best things that ever happened to me and I am not letting you take them away from me."

Maybe that wasn't entirely fair. Then a solution came to Madison's mind. "Fine. I get one and you get the other."

"Why can't we make this work?" Clayton pleaded. "There has to be something we can do."

"I'm tired of this and I'm tired of you!" Madison finished zipping up the suitcase. He looked at the girls in their cribs, scooping up Ella. Emma clearly preferred Clayton, so this made it easy. Without a word, Madison put Ella in the car seat and began leaving the condo.

Clayton ran after Madison. "Madison Kyle Bumgarner, get back here this instant! You are not taking my daughter away from me!" The rain had really picked up and Clayton could barely see. He didn't like the idea of Madison driving to San Francisco in this weather. "It's storming, it's not safe to drive in weather like this, please, I'll sleep on the couch tonight, just stay here and we can talk in the morning when we've both had time to calm down..."

Madison avoided listening to Clayton's protests as he packed up his car. He'd had enough. He could hardly see as he started to drive away, realizing what a mistake he'd just made. He'd probably lost Clayton and Emma forever. But he couldn't go back. Not after the things he'd said to Clayton and the way he'd left. He could hardly see as he drove, which was fitting. His mind was definitely not on the road. It was all over the place and he'd probably be lucky if he made it back to San Francisco.

Clayton stood on the driveway, wanting to chase after the car, but also knowing that the door was unlocked and his daughter was inside. He was already soaking wet and most importantly, he was so angry at himself. This was temporary. This probably was the best way to handle things during the regular season. They could have all spent the offseason together all the time. And he shouldn't have been putting so much pressure on Madison. They lived in a shitty time.

He went back into the condo and heard Emma crying. She must have known, in some way, how horrible everything that had happened tonight was. He went into the nursery and scooped her up, sitting in the chair with her. "I'm so sorry, baby girl," he said softly. "I'm so, so sorry."

Emma snuggled up to him. Usually, snuggles with his daughters made him feel better, but tonight, nothing could make him feel better. He looked down at Emma, fearing that their family had fallen apart. "Please come back," he pleaded, hoping there was some way Madison could get the message. "The girls need each other. They need both their dads. And I need you."

* * *

 

“Well, let’s hope it’s not thunderstorming where either of them are,” Ella said, causing both girls to giggle.

Emma thought about how Ella’s story was similar to hers. “Did you ever know your mom, Ella?”

Ella’s history was a complicated and unusual one. She didn’t talk much about it. She knew since what happened was so unusual, people might think it was weird, or not even believe her. “It’s always just been me and my dad.”

Emma still saw parallels. “You know, if our dads were both in the MLB around the same time, maybe they knew each other.”

“Yeah, I wonder,” Ella agreed. That hadn’t crossed her mind. “What’s your dad’s name?”

“Clayton Kershaw, he was on the Dodgers,” Emma said.

“My dad hasn’t mentioned him,” Ella said. “He was on the Giants though, so maybe that’s why he won’t talk about the Dodgers. His name is Madison Bumgarner. Maybe we should ask them if they knew each other.”

“Don’t you think it’s weird?” Emma asked, pieces coming together. “We look alike and we have the same birthday, and we both just live with our dad?”

“Yeah, but it’s probably a coincidence,” Ella said. “Do you know what happened to your mom?”

Emma very rarely talked about her history. Hell, her father rarely talked about the history. Emma’s other father was the one thing she felt like she couldn’t talk to Clayton about. Should she tell Ella? “I never had a mom.”

Ella felt like her heart had skipped a beat. “So are you adopted?” She had never had a mom, either. She’d been carried by a male. There were very few men out there who had the organs that could carry a baby, but she’d gotten Madison to admit that at one point, he’d been with another man who’d carried Ella.

Emma had never spoken this out loud to anyone outside her family. Probably because she thought no one would believe her. “My dad was a carrier. It’s very rare, but he did get pregnant from another man.”

No way. This was way too much coincidence. “Oh gosh,” Ella mumbled. “Emma... my dad was with another man who carried me.” She paused to catch her breath. “Do you think...”

Emma took a deep breath. “I don’t know. I just know male pregnancies are very rare. I don’t know much about my other father. My dad doesn’t like to talk about him, so I don’t ask. I have a picture, though.”

“Did you bring it with you?” Ella asked. She just wanted to see. Maybe her suspicions would be confirmed. “If you show me, I’ll show you my picture of my other father.”

“Yeah, I did,” Emma said nervously. She reached into her suitcase and pulled out the photo, clutching it to her chest. She rarely showed the photo to anyone.

Ella pulled another photo out of her bag. “Okay, on three. One, two, three.”

The girls handed each other the photos. As they took each other’s photos, they were looking into younger faces of the men who’d raised them. “That’s my dad,” Ella said tearfully.

“That’s my dad,” Emma replied just as tearfully.

“So this means...” Ella tried to process everything. “This means you’re my sister.”

“Sister?” Emma giggled. “Ella, we’re twins!”

The girls dropped the photos, their fights from yesterday and earlier today forgotten, as they pulled each other into a hug. “Oh my God, I have a twin sister,” Ella sobbed.

Emma couldn’t think of anything to say. She just tightened the hug.


	4. Kicks and the switch

“This all makes sense now,” Ella admitted. “Something must have happened. Something really bad. And they obviously thought the solution was to each take one of us and never talk to each other again.”

“Is it bad that I’m kind of mad?” Emma asked. “I mean, I’ve always wondered about my other father, but they kept us from each other.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Ella agreed. “I wonder what happened. It was bad, whatever it was.” She looked at the two photos that had fallen on the floor. The way they’d fallen looked like the girls’ fathers were next to each other. “Look, Emma, it’s as if they’re next to each other.”

Emma looked at the photos and realized her sister (her sister!) was right. “Yeah. I just can’t believe this. You’re going to need to tell me everything about him.”

“YOU need to tell me everything about our other father,” Ella giggled. “God, I’m tempted to call him up and scream at him for keeping this from me.”

Then an idea came to Emma’s mind. “We should get revenge on them for keeping us from each other.”

“Yeah!” Ella agreed. “I told him I wanted to fly home alone at the end of camp, but maybe I should tell him to come out here. They can see us together and then they’d have some explaining to do.”

“That’s not what I was thinking,” Emma interrupted. “We’re twins, identical twins. How about at the end of the summer, I go back to North Carolina as you and you go back to Texas as me?”

"I like the way you think," Ella said. "That would teach them a lesson."

"And the thing is, if we switch, sooner or later, they'll have to switch us back," Emma began.

Ella knew where her sister was going. "And when they do, they'll have to see each other again."

"I mean, yeah, they had a bad breakup, but I doubt whatever happened was bad enough that they never could see or talk to each other again," Emma thought out loud. "And I can't imagine anyone not getting along with Daddy. Everyone loves him."

"Same with Dad," Ella said. "Though he can be VERY stubborn."

"I guess that's something they have in common," Emma said. "So, can you tell me about him?"

"Well, I showed you a photo of our farm, it's his pride and joy," Ella began. "Once he killed a snake and when he sliced it open, he found a rabbit inside that was still alive and he nursed it back to health. He has his quirks. He didn't own a suit until 2014."

"That's great!" Emma giggled. "We're going to need to get him one for the wedding though."

"Yes!" Ella cheered. "Anyway, what's our other dad like?"

"He runs an organization dedicated to improving the lives of children around the world," Emma began. "We've done some work in Africa and in the Dominican Republic, and when I go on those trips with him, I really feel like I'm doing something special."

"Is he with anyone?" Ella asked.

"He's never seriously been with anyone," Emma admitted.

"Yeah, neither has Dad," Ella said. "I wonder if this means secretly, deep down, they still love each other."

Emma giggled. "You know, you may be right."

The girls were interrupted by a knock on the door. The hall counselor peered in. "Well, you two haven't killed each other. And dare I say, you seem to be getting along."

The girls exchanged a look. "Well, we discovered we had more in common than we thought."

"That's what I thought," the counselor said. "Would you ladies like to rejoin your teams?"

"Yeah," the two girls said.

* * *

 

Madison was still wrapping his mind around what Clayton had told him. It was hard to believe that he'd gotten his opponent pregnant. He didn't even know that men could get pregnant. And since he didn't know Clayton very well, he wasn't really sure how to deal with it. He'd texted Clayton every day to see how he was feeling. He'd heard even before he learned about the pregnancy that Clayton was always sick these days. (Now it made sense.) Clayton always said he was fine.

Now it was time for the all-star game and they were going to see each other for the first time since that fateful conversation. When Madison arrived at the field, he looked carefully at Clayton. The bump wasn't bigger than it had been, but it would be getting bigger. "How are you feeling?" Madison whispered, moving closer to Clayton.

"Fine," Clayton said. He had to admit, he considered himself lucky that Madison was checking in on him a lot. He looked around before whispering in Madison's ear. "I had some pretty bad morning sickness this morning."

"I'm sorry," Madison murmured. "But you're feeling okay now?"

"Yeah," Clayton said. He'd been reluctant to ask this, but since Madison seemed to care, maybe he could. "You know, next time we're in the same city, I was thinking of going to a doctor. Would you be willing to come, too? You could see your child." What if Madison didn't like that word choice? Crap.

See your child. Madison liked that idea. "Yeah, I'd like that."

* * *

 

The NL starters took the field and the first AL batter came up to bat. As Clayton prepared to throw the ball, he felt something in his stomach. Wondering what it was, he threw the ball. It was a ball. He was distracted, so he couldn't really blame himself. After all, it was just one ball. He put his hand on his stomach and felt a flutter, realizing what was going on.

Madison watched from the dugout as Clayton grabbed his stomach. Crap. Was he okay? Was the baby okay?

The catcher motioned that he was ready for the next ball. Clayton threw the ball. Another ball. He was still distracted, but he couldn't let the NL lose. They hadn't gotten any runs in the top of the first. Since the all-star game was being held in Cleveland, an AL park, the AL team already had an advantage.

None of the first three AL batters got on base and the first inning ended. As soon as Clayton got to the dugout, he felt a tap on his shoulder from the starting third baseman, Nolan Arenado from the Rockies. "You okay?" Nolan asked.

"Yeah," Clayton said.

"Are you sure?" the starting first baseman, Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs, asked. "It didn't look like you were."

"Dude, you keep telling us you're fine, but we're worried," Cody Bellinger added. "You've been sick all season."

Madison finally made his way over and looked at Clayton, hoping to ask him if he was okay without giving away what was going on. "Are you okay?"

Clayton tried to give Madison an assuring look. "Yes, I'm fine."

"Why don't you sit down?" Madison asked. If Clayton overworked himself, it could be bad for the baby. "Is there anything I can get for you?"

Dave came over as well. "Kersh, I don't think you should pitch the second inning."

Clayton groaned. Was all this necessary? One disadvantage to not telling people was everyone treated him like he had a disease when he was really perfectly normal. Well, as normal as a pregnant man could be. "I'm going to go get a snack, okay?"

"Get whatever you need," Dave said.

Madison heard what Clayton said and followed him out. "Are you sure you're okay?" He couldn't help but worry about Clayton and the baby.

Clayton looked around to make sure it was just the two of them in this hall. "The baby... it kicked me." Saying that out loud felt so weird.

"Wow," Madison gasped. There was nothing to be worried about.

As Clayton prepared to respond, he felt the same flutter he'd felt earlier. He put Madison's hand on his stomach. "Do you feel that? He or she is saying hi to you. I think they know you're here." Had he overstepped things by saying that?

Madison felt the movements. That was his child. Their child. "This is crazy." Maybe he was being paranoid, but the baby now seemed to be kicking harder. "Hi," he whispered before impulsively kissing the bump. Crap. Maybe he shouldn't have done that. He hadn't asked Clayton if that was okay. And what if someone saw? "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

Clayton's heart warmed as he watched Madison feeling the baby. And that kiss. That felt pretty good. "No, I liked that."

Madison looked up at Clayton. He'd never noticed that Clayton had pretty eyes. And a nice smile. "Yeah, but someone could've seen me."

"Maybe you're right," Clayton admitted. He wouldn't be opposed to it happening again though.

* * *

 

Throughout the rest of camp, the girls devoted themselves to teaching each other about their home lives. They'd drawn maps of their houses and their hometowns and shown each other photos of every person they knew on their phones. They agreed to not tell anyone, not even the friends they made, about the discovery. If they told their friends, it was possible one of their friends would say something a counselor would overhear. And if a counselor overheard, the counselor could tell their dads.

The night before camp ended, Emma sat nervously on the chair in their room, clutching her hands together. Her wavy dirty blonde hair fell halfway down her back. Ella’s was much shorter. The longest layers were to her shoulders and the shorter layers were at the bottom of her ears, and she also had side bangs on the left. Emma hated the idea of her hair being cut, but knew that was the only option if they wanted to pull this off.

Ella approached her sister with a pair of scissors. “Look at it this way, if he’s mad you cut your hair, I’ll be the one he gets mad at, not you.”

Emma managed a giggle. “He won’t be. Go ahead, just get it done.” She clutched her hands together as her sister cut her hair. After about half an hour, the girls stood in front of the mirror, amazed at how much more they looked alike with the same haircut. Emma admitted it felt strange having the bangs on the side of her forehead and not feeling her hair on her back, but overall, she definitely liked her new look. As she looked closer, she noticed something else. "Oh no."

"What?" Ella asked.

"I have pierced ears and you don't," Emma said.

How were they supposed to pull this off? "Can't you just take out your earrings and we can hope he doesn't say anything about earrings and just thinks I'm not wearing them?" Ella had wanted her ears pierced for a while, but Madison had told her not until high school.

Emma gave Ella a look. "I got my ears pierced for my birthday. I'd been begging him for a while. It's not at the point where I can't wear earrings yet. Come on, I had to cut my hair."

Ella realized that if they wanted to pull this off, this would have to happen. "Okay. Do you have any extra earrings?"

Emma got out her phone and looked up how to pierce ears. She wasn't sure if she trusted herself. The girls got some ice out of the freezer and Emma handed it to Ella. "Hold this against your ear until it gets numb."

Ella didn't want to admit she was nervous. After what felt like forever, she said, "I think it's numb."

Emma took a deep breath, not sure if she trusted herself. Had she even sterilized the earing properly? "Okay." She forced herself to stick the earring through Ella's ear as both girls gritted their teeth together, not wanting to scream and be heard.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked.

"I think so," Ella said. "Do the other one."

The process repeated. "I can't believe I let you do that," Ella giggled.

"I can't believe I let you cut my hair," Emma giggled.

The girls looked in the mirror. If it wasn't for the fact that they were in different clothes, they'd look perfectly identical. "Wow," Ella gasped. "We're actually doing this."

"Yeah," Emma said. "I can't believe tomorrow, I'm going to meet my other dad."

* * *

 

The next day, the girls were saying their goodbyes to each other as they waited for the parents to arrive and the taxis to take them to the airport. To avoid anyone knowing what happened, Ella had pinned back her bangs and shorter layers and put her hair up, and Emma had her hair down so her earrings were covered.

"Emma Kershaw, your ride is here," the camp director called.

Emma looked at Ella. "That's you. Give him a kiss for me, okay?"

"Give Dad one for me," Ella said. "I'm really going to miss you. At the beginning of camp, I didn't think I'd say that."

"I'm going to miss you too, but hopefully soon, we'll be together for good, with both our dads," Emma fantasized out loud.

"Yeah," Ella said dreamily. "I have that feeling, too."

"Emma Kershaw, I repeat, your ride is here," the camp director repeated.

"I guess I should go," Ella sighed. "I'm really going to meet him."

The girls gave each other one last hug as Emma watched Ella leave. They were actually doing this.


	5. Meeting Daddy

"Oh my God, this is it!" Ella mumbled to herself as the plane landed. She was actually going to meet the man who'd carried her, the man who'd been a mystery to her for most of her life. And for the first time since she and Emma had come up with this plan, Ella began to get nervous. What if she and Emma hadn't trained each other well enough and he realized she wasn't Emma?  
The flight attendant welcomed the passengers to DFW and Ella grabbed the suitcase. She filed off the plane, scanning the crowd for a familiar face from the photos Emma had shown her. After all, what if Clayton wasn't picking her up at the airport? What if he got held up at work or something? Oh gosh, she was worrying so much, she really was turning into her sister.  
"Emma!"  
At the sound of what was supposed to be her name, Ella spun around and saw Clayton Kershaw. She knew she and Emma had both inherited Madison's eyes, but from the photos she'd seen, other than that, they were the image of their other father. Seeing him in person confirmed that. "Daddy," Ella managed to say. She dropped her suitcase and ran up to Clayton, jumping into his arms. She hugged him as tight as she could, finding it hard to believe this was really happening. Her eyes began welling up.  
Finally, she pulled apart and looked at him. It had been a few weeks, but she tried to think of something to say that wouldn't give away that she was seeing him for the first time. "I missed you so much."  
"And I missed you so much," Clayton said. He looked at her. "Emma, your hair..."  
The girls hoped their fathers wouldn't notice the big changes they had to make to pull this off, but it was hard not to notice that about a foot of hair was gone. Ella tried to think of her excuse when she remembered something she'd seen on campus. "On the campus one day, they were collecting hair for kids with cancer and I figured why not." She shrugged, hoping he would buy that. "Do you hate it?"  
"I love it," Clayton said, running a hand over Ella's hair. "You look beautiful and I'm so proud. You're always thinking of others. So, how was your flight?"  
"They had some good snacks on the flight," Ella giggled, hoping Madison's reaction to the earrings would be this tame.  
Clayton gave her a surprised look. "So you did okay flying by yourself?"  
Then Ella remembered that Emma was a nervous wreck about flying by herself and had done this to prove she could do it. "Yeah, I was a little nervous, but it was easier than I thought it would be." She was still taking in that her father who'd carried her was standing in front of her. "I'm just so happy to see you."  
Clayton gave Ella another hug. Little did he know, they had twelve years of hugs to make up for. "Well, I'm happy to see you, too."  
Ella felt tears coming to her eyes. "I missed you so much."  
Clayton put his arm around his daughter. "I missed you too. It feels like it's been forever, doesn't it?"  
"Yeah," Ella agreed. It really had.  
"How about we get some dinner?" Clayton asked.  
Ella smiled. She'd never had a meal with Clayton before. "I'd love that."  
Ella took in the sights as Clayton drove through Dallas. "Wow, it's beautiful here!" she gushed. She and Madison hadn't spent much time in big cities.  
"Was it not beautiful before camp?" Clayton asked.  
"Being away makes you appreciate home more," Ella shrugged. "So, where are we going to dinner? You pick." She probably should have asked Emma where she liked to eat here.  
"Where are we going?" Clayton asked. "You've been gone for weeks, I would've been sure you'd want to go to your favorite place. I've had all summer to eat wherever I want."  
"Of course," Ella giggled. She looked across at who was sitting next to her, driving the car. It was hard to believe her other father was actually here. "How's Kershaw's Challenge?"  
"We've got an event tonight," Clayton said. "I feel kind of bad missing it, but I want this evening with you."  
Ella tried to hold in her disappointment. Sure, Emma had been to lots of events, but she'd never been to one, and this would be a great opportunity to see her dad in action. Still, she was glad to get time with the father she'd spent her whole life without. Ella told Clayton about camp and the girls she'd met there. Of course, Emma had primarily spent time with the girls on the Dodgers, whereas Ella had primarily spent time with the girls on the Giants, so she had to be careful and say all these girls were just girls she'd met. She also tried to not seem too fascinated when Clayton talked about how things had been back home while she'd been at camp.  
After they finished dinner and began leaving the restaurant, Clayton asked Ella, "So, did things get better with your roommate? I know you got off to a rough start..."  
Emma and Ella had agreed not to talk much about each other with their dads to avoid things slipping. "Yeah, I ended up really liking her. She's from North Carolina. Have you ever been to North Carolina?"  
North Carolina. Every time Clayton heard about North Carolina, his mind immediately went to Madison. Madison had kept a low profile since retiring. Clayton couldn't help but wonder: where was Madison now? Were he and Ella living in North Carolina? How was Ella? Being without Emma this summer made it more glaringly obvious that he'd been without Ella her whole life. Memories came rushing back with just a simple question...

* * *

 

"Thanks for coming with me," Clayton told Madison. They still weren't exactly sure where they stood. They hadn't seen each other since the all-star game, though they were calling and texting each other a lot. At first, it was just asking for updates about the baby, but now it had led to talking about their days and things that were on their mind. If Clayton was being honest with himself, he was developing feelings for Madison. He loved that kiss at the all-star game. But did Madison feel the same way?  
"Of course, I want to see my child," Madison said. "I'm not starting today, so I just told Bochy I was meeting a friend before the game. Any movement today?"  
"Pretty active this morning, but seems to be sleeping now," Clayton admitted. It was still odd thinking there was a baby in his body.  
The doctor came in. "Hi, Clayton." He turned to Madison. "Is this - the other father?"  
Clayton noticed the doctor's pause. "Yeah, this is Madison." Is this your boyfriend? Was that what he was going to ask?  
The doctor shook Madison's hand. "Nice to meet you." He turned to Clayton. "How are you feeling?"  
"Well, he's always texting me about feeling sick and tired," Madison blurted out.  
"That's normal," the doctor said. "I've seen your games on TV and you seem to still be playing well. Why don't you pick up your shirt and we can get started?"  
Clayton looked at Madison. "We're going to see our child."  
"Yeah," Madison said.  
The doctor got out the gel and began moving the wand around. "Do you hear that? That's the heartbeat..." He paused. "Oh..."  
Clayton began to get worried. This was a similar look to the looks he got during that appointment with all the scans and blood tests, the appointment where he found out about the pregnancy. "Is the baby okay?"  
"Yeah," the doctor said, examining the screen. "It's just - there are two heartbeats. You're having twins." He turned the screen and pointed at two small figures on the screen. "See, there they are."  
Madison grabbed Clayton's hand. "Twins. Wow."  
Clayton liked the way that felt. He turned and smiled at Madison. "I'd been feeling movement in two different areas, but I thought it was just the baby moving around... I didn't think there were two."  
"They both seem to be in perfect health," the doctor continued. "The fact that you've come this far without any problems is a good sign. It's much harder for men to go through pregnancies..." He looked closer. "Do you want to know the genders?"  
Clayton looked at Madison. "Do you?"  
"If you do," Madison said.  
"Yeah, we do," Clayton said. "I had a feeling it was a girl when I thought there was only one..."  
"Well, you've got two little girls," the doctor said. "Congratulations."

* * *

 

Clayton shook himself out of his trance. "Yeah, before you were born."  
Ella figured she could maybe use this to get Clayton to talk more about Madison. "Is it nice there?"  
"Yeah, it was," Clayton said. His phone started ringing. He looked at it and saw it was someone from Kershaw's Challenge. "Do you mind if I just take this call real quick? Maybe they have questions about the event tonight."  
"Yeah, no problem." Ella got out her phone and saw a text from Emma that her plane had landed. She couldn't believe how close she'd gotten to getting Clayton to talk about Madison, but promised herself that she'd get him to talk later tonight. She listened to Clayton's end of the phone call. "Hey, how's the event going? Are you sure? Can't you manage without me? Emma just got back from camp... I guess I could stop by..." He looked at Ella. "Emma, would you mind if we stopped at the event?"  
Ella tried to hold in her excitement. She was going to see her other father in action. "I'd love to!"  
"Are you sure?" Clayton asked. "You just got home, you're probably tired and there will be lots of people there, probably going to be noisy..."  
"I want to go," Ella said. "We're going."  
Clayton smiled and then turned back to the call. "Okay, we'll be there soon."  
Ella didn't want to ask too many questions about the event. The real Emma probably knew what was going on. It was a short drive to the Cowboys stadium, where apparently, Ping Pong For Purpose was being held.   
"Looks like you drew a crowd," Ella observed.  
"So far, it's raised the most out of any event I've held," Clayton told Ella.  
"Wow!" Ella gushed. "Let's get in."  
The father and daughter walked into the stadium. Ella tried to hold in her excitement. Her other father really knew how to draw a crowd. He introduced her to so many celebrities as his daughter and she felt so proud hearing him do that. She also got to meet several of his former Dodgers teammates for the first time (though it wouldn't have been the first time for Emma). She'd never played ping pong (maybe Madison associated it with Clayton and that was why it had never come up?), so she didn't pick up any paddles. Watching the games was fun enough. She'd never been in an arena with so many famous people before. And she was so impressed that her father knew all these people, or at least knew who they were. How had he gotten so many cool people in one place?  
"Hey Emma, want to play me?" Clayton asked, breaking Ella out of her thoughts.  
Ella didn't know what to say. She didn't know how good Emma's ping pong skills were, but still, she loved the idea of playing her father at his event. "I'd love to!"  
"Can she play?" a reporter asked.  
"We've been playing each other since she was little," Clayton told the reporter. He handed Ella a paddle. Ella gulped. She'd been watching the games, but chances were, Emma was a lot better than she was at this.  
Ella tried to hit the ball back and forth, but it kept falling off the table. She noticed that there were photographers taking photos. And that many of the event's attendees had gathered around the table. Even though Ella had never played before, she couldn't help but have fun. However, her father was much better than she was.  
Eventually, the ball kept falling. "I'm sorry, I must be tired from the plane ride," Ella said.  
"I'm sure you are," Clayton said. "How about we get home?"  
"Yeah, let's get home," Ella said. She was finally going to see the house where her other father and her sister lived. She also couldn't stand the suspense any longer and tried to think of something to make a connection to Madison. "There were lots of guys from the MLB there."  
Clayton began driving the car. "Yeah, there were."  
"Was my other father in the MLB? I know you had me during your career, and the timeline works out that I would be conceived during baseball season..." This probably wasn't the best way to shoehorn it, but she wanted him to say something that could get him talking.  
Clayton paused. His daughter rarely spoke about her other father, but maybe he was to blame. He probably should have been more open. "Yeah, he was. He wasn't on the Dodgers with me, though."  
"How'd you meet then?" Ella asked, hoping she could get Clayton talking.  
Would she be disappointed? "We sort of knew each other. He was on the Giants." Would she be upset to find out she was the product of a drunken hookup?  
"So, when did you get together?" Ella asked.  
She wanted to know. He couldn't keep it from her forever. There was so much to tell. "It's not the typical story. You might not be impressed by this: we got drunk at a party during spring training and ended up in bed together. I didn't even know I could, but not too long after, I found out I was pregnant. I didn't know what to expect when I found out, but he was so supportive."  
So Ella was an accident. She figured she was an accident because very few men could get pregnant. (She didn't even know men could get pregnant until Madison told her.)  
Clayton looked over at how disappointed his daughter looked. "Don't think you're a mistake, okay? I'm so glad we ended up in bed together that night. How could I not be?" He just wished things hadn't fallen apart.  
"What was he like?" Ella asked, hoping to keep things going.  
"He was a great guy," Clayton admitted. That was true. "I wouldn't have wanted anyone else by my side. We didn't know each other very well before I got pregnant, but then we were always calling and texting each other. It started with him just asking how I was feeling and how you were, but then we started talking about everything. It got to the point when on our days off, we flew out to see each other. When the season ended, he came out here. Those were some of the most fun months of my life." His mind went back to all those nights spent curled up on the couch together watching something on TV or just talking. He missed the feeling of Madison's arm around him. And then there was the sex. "Once when you were a few months old, he got me to ride a dirt bike around his family's farm." He smiled at that memory.  
Was Clayton referencing where Ella and Madison lived now? He'd been there? "That's quite an image."  
"I fell off that bike," Clayton admitted. "But I always beat him at ping pong."  
Ella wondered if she was asking too many questions, but at the same time, she was glad Clayton was talking. "You don't even know where he lives now or anything? Come on, you can't blame me for wondering."  
He couldn't blame her. "I don't know." He'd tried looking Madison up but had no luck. He just wished that even if he couldn't see Ella in person, he could see a photo of her.  
As Ella tried to think of what to say next, the car pulled into the driveway. This was it. This was the house that her other father and her sister lived in. "Wow, we're home." She stepped out of the car and took in the sight. The house was even more beautiful than the photos Emma had shown her. "It's so good to be home."  
Clayton was relieved that she'd stopped asking about Madison. That was a painful topic for him and he dreaded what would happen if she found out exactly what had happened. Why had he made those mistakes? Why didn't he call Madison and fight harder? She was right, he had no idea where Madison was. He had no idea where his other daughter was.  
There was no use in dwelling on the past. He finally had a daughter at home with him again and he was going to enjoy that. Pushing the thoughts out of his mind, he followed her into the house.


	6. Meeting Dad

Emma felt her stomach flipping as it was announced the plane would soon be landing. Her whole life, she'd wanted to meet her other father. Now it was happening. What if he could tell she wasn't Ella? What if he got mad at the girls for what they'd done? In the eyes of the law, Emma was Clayton's daughter and Ella was Madison's. As Emma fiddled with her hair, she remembered something else. What if Madison was upset that his daughter had come home with pierced ears? Miraculously, it seemed like everything had gone fine with piercing Ella's ears, but she wasn't trained.  
The plane landed and Emma tried to force herself to stop worrying. She was going to meet her other father. This was something she'd been dreaming of. She should stop worrying about what could go wrong. She grabbed her suitcase and filed off the plane, looking around the airport for Madison.  
Emma then felt someone grab her from behind. "Boo!" a voice said. As she almost screamed, she turned and saw who it was.  
"Dad!" Emma gasped. For the first time that she could remember, she was seeing her other father.  
"Hey, Ella!" Madison said. "I gave you a bit of a scare there, didn't I?"  
Emma felt tears coming to her eyes as she hugged him. "Dad, I missed you so, so much."  
"I missed you too, Ella," Madison said. "I was worried you wouldn't want to come home!"  
"Of course I wanted to," Emma mumbled. Looking at Madison, she now knew where she and her sister had gotten their eyes.  
"Did you enjoy flying home alone, as you wanted?" Madison asked.  
Emma had not enjoyed flying solo. Flying always made her nervous and she hated the turbulence at takeoff and landing. The seats were uncomfortable and she always worried that the plane would fall. This time, she was even more worried. What if the plane crashed before she met Madison? How would she and Ella explain things? But the flight was over. "Yeah, I did."  
Madison smiled at his daughter and tucked strands of hair behind her ears. Then Emma realized what he'd noticed. "You got your ears pierced?"  
Crap. How was Emma supposed to explain this? Now she wondered, what had Clayton's reaction to the short hair been? She managed a small smile.  
"Well, I guess I should've expected this," Madison admitted. "I kept saying no, so you went behind my back. I should have just taken you. Guess we'll need to buy you some earrings."  
Emma sighed with relief. "Sorry, Dad." She tried to think about what Ella would say.  
"You're staring at me like you've never seen me before," Madison pointed out.  
"I'm just glad to see you again," Emma said. Crap, was she messing up already?  
"And I'm glad to see you again," Madison said. "Come on, let's get you home."  
Emma tried to hold in her excitement. The farm had looked beautiful when Ella showed her pictures and now she was going to see it in person. "I can't wait! So, how's everyone back home?"  
Madison put his arm around Emma as they began walking to the car. "Great, everyone can't wait to see you. A lot's happened around here."  
Little did he know how much had happened at camp. "A lot's happened to me, too. The Giants won the camp tournament and I pitched the championship game!" Emma had been disappointed to have been defeated by her sister's team in the finals, but she knew Ella would want Madison to know about that."  
Madison put the suitcases in the car. "That's great! So I'm guessing you recovered from the first night?"  
"Yeah, I did," Emma said. "We beat the Dodgers in the finals, so I got revenge on that girl." It was weird talking about herself. "But we ended up becoming really close." Should she say much else? What if Madison asked for that girl's name?  
The Dodgers. Of course, whenever Madison heard about the Dodgers, his mind went to Clayton. How was Clayton doing? How was Emma doing? How had she spent her summer? He looked at his daughter. She looked so much like Clayton. Simple things could bring back memories...

* * *

 

"My parents just texted me, they're in the waiting room," Madison said, pacing around the operating room. This was it. He was going to be a dad. He looked at Clayton in the bed. "Are you okay?"  
"I'm terrified," Clayton said.  
Of course, Madison was also afraid. Their daughters would be here soon. They would have two lives in their hands. Were they really ready? What if they somehow messed up? Right now though, he probably shouldn't say that. He wasn't the one who was going to have his body cut open. "Look, if you feel pain, just squeeze my hand."  
Clayton grabbed Madison's hand. "Can I hold your hand even though I don't feel pain yet?"  
Madison used his thumb to rub circles into Clayton's hand. "Of course." He glanced at the doctor. "Do you think we could get an epidural?"  
"Yeah, definitely," the doctor said. "Everything looks great, so we can probably get started with the c-section soon."  
Madison gave Clayton a nervous smile which Clayton returned. "Our babies are almost here," Clayton said.  
"Yeah," Madison said. Not wanting to release Clayton's hand, he put his other arm around his boyfriend and kissed his forehead.  
"Thank you," Clayton said. "I know I've said this before, but you really didn't have to stick with me like you have. I'm so glad you have though. Our daughters are going to be so lucky to have you."  
"Yes, thank you." Madison looked on the other side of the bed at Clayton's mother, who was also in the room. "I've heard so many stories of men who haven't stuck around after getting someone pregnant." She then looked at her son. "When I was doing this with you, I never thought you'd be in this position."  
The doctor came in. "Okay, so we're just going to get the epidural, and then we can get started."  
Madison squeezed Clayton's hand. "Just focus on your breathing." He used his other hand to rub Clayton's back. He couldn't wait to meet his daughters, but it was hard seeing his boyfriend obviously scared.  
The c-section seemed to take forever. There were several points when Madison thought that Clayton was going to break his hand from how hard he was squeezing, but he chose not to say anything. He kept whispering reassuring things to Clayton. Then, finally, "WAH!"  
"That's one of our little girls," Clayton said in an exhausted voice.  
"Yeah, it is," Madison said. One of his daughters was here.  
"Do you want to cut the chord?" the doctor asked Madison.  
Madison leaned a little closer. There was his daughter.  
"How is she?" Clayton asked weakly.  
"She's perfect," Madison said. He looked at the baby as he cut the chord. "Hi. Nice to finally meet you." He didn't want to take his eyes off her. His daughter was here. He looked up at Clayton. "I knew you could do it."  
"Don't forget, we still have one more," the doctor said as a nurse took the baby away. "And I can see her head." A little cry filled the room as Madison went to look at his other daughter. She looked just like her sister. "Clay, they're perfect."  
As the nurses cleaned the baby, Madison sat on the bed next to Clayton and put his arms around him. "You did such a great job."  
Clayton looked at Madison. "I love you."  
Those three words hadn't been said yet, but Madison had thought them so many times over the past few months. "I love you, too."  
They smiled widely at each other, but were quickly distracted by a doctor walking over with the swaddled infants. "Ready to meet your daughters?"  
This was the only way this moment could get better. "Yeah," Madison said as Clayton nodded.  
The doctor put one baby in each of their arms as they moved closer together. Finally, the whole family was together. They stared into their daughters' faces, occasionally smiling at each other. They couldn't believe their daughters were here.  
"What are their names?" the doctor asked.  
"We wanted to wait until we saw them to decide," Clayton told the doctor.  
"Okay, until you pick names, I'll just put Baby Kershaw 1 and Baby Kershaw 2 on the wristbands," the doctor said.  
"No," Clayton interrupted. "Baby Bumgarner-Kershaw 1 and Baby Bumgarner-Kershaw 2."  
"Bumgarner-Kershaw?" Madison asked.  
"Of course!" Clayton said. "You're just as much their father as I am." He looked down at the babies. "Hey, baby girls. We're your daddies. And we love you both so, so much. We're so happy you're here."  
Madison felt his heart fluttering seeing Clayton interacting with their daughters. "We made some beautiful babies, didn't we?"  
"Yeah," Madison agreed. "We did."

* * *

 

Emma noticed Madison's silence. She'd mentioned the Dodgers. Was he thinking about Clayton? Was it too soon to get him to talk about Clayton? "Dad?"  
Madison forced himself to stop thinking about the past. "Sorry, I just got a bit distracted."  
Finally, the car pulled into the farm. "Oh my gosh!" Emma gasped.  
"Now you sound like yourself," Madison commented.  
As soon as the car pulled in, Emma wanted to take in the sights at the farm. It was even more beautiful than the photos Ella had shown her. The ox and the horses were outside grazing, so Emma wanted to go get a closer look. As she approached them, she began to get a bit nervous. She'd never been this close to animals this size before. She reached out and pet the horse on the nose.  
"You missed your friends?" Madison asked.  
"Yeah, I really did," Emma giggled as the dog came running over. "Hi!" she said, leaning down to pet the dog.  
The dog, however, began barking as if to say, "Hey, you're not Ella!"  
"What's wrong?" Madison asked the dog. "It's Ella."  
At least Madison was falling for it. "He hasn't seen me in a while, maybe I smell bad from the airplane."  
"Probably," Madison agreed. "I bet you're hungry, want to shower and then we can have dinner?"  
"Yeah," Emma said. She brought the bag upstairs. She opened her phone and saw a text from Ella. "Hey, Emma! Daddy's amazing! We went to Ping Pong 4 Purpose and I sucked at ping pong but I still had fun! And he's so nice! Hope you're having fun, too!"  
Emma replied to the text. "Yeah, Dad's great, too! I love the farm, it's so beautiful. We're about to have dinner :)" She quickly showered and went downstairs for dinner. When she got downstairs, she was surprised to see three places set at the table. She tried to think. Maybe one of Madison's parents was coming over for dinner? "Dad, why's the table set for three?"  
Madison started to feel nervous. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. He'd never introduced Ella to anyone he'd dated before. Before he had a chance to explain, the bell rang.  
Emma noticed the uncertain look on Madison's face when she asked why there was a third place at the table. When Madison left the dining room, Emma got an even worse feeling. She couldn't clearly hear the conversation, but she did hear a woman's voice. It seemed like Madison and this woman were trying to be quiet and didn't want her to hear what they were saying.  
Finally, Madison came back into the dining room with a woman who looked at least ten years younger than he was. She looked like a barbie - tiny waist and enormous breasts. She was wearing too much makeup and a dress that was so tight, it almost looked painted on. Her bright red hair nearly reached her waist. She gave Emma the fakest smile she'd ever seen.  
As if Emma couldn't be any more annoyed, Madison put his arm around the woman's waist. "Ella, this is Charlotte."  
"Hi," Emma said. She'd wanted to spend tonight with Madison.  
Charlotte gushed in a tone that was obviously fake. "Oh, Maddie, she's adorable! So, how was camp, Ella?"  
"It was good," Emma said. Who was this woman? And why was she here? Ella had said Madison didn't date.  
"We've been spending a lot of time together over the last few months," Madison said. He wasn't sure how to explain this to his daughter. It had always been just the two of them and she seemed to like it like that. He looked at his daughter's face. She didn't look happy. Maybe this was to be expected. He hadn't been sure if it was a good idea to make an account on a dating site, but Clayton was gone and he didn't want to be alone. Before he knew it, his daughter would be leaving home.  
A lot of time together? This didn't sound good. Ella must not have known about this. It certainly seemed like she didn't.  
"So, your father tells me you're a catcher," Charlotte continued.  
"I'm a pitcher," Emma said. If she didn't know the difference between a catcher and a pitcher, she must not know much about baseball. Emma decided to take a page from Ella's book. "You know, my dad was a pitcher, too, and he won three World Series titles."  
"She loves to brag about that," Madison said. He noticed his daughter looked a bit uncomfortable.  
Emma didn't know what to say. She could tell the smiles Charlotte was giving her were fake. Should she call Ella and tell her to bring Clayton to North Carolina? Since she'd just met Madison, she didn't want to get in trouble with him. "Can I go upstairs for a minute?"  
"Yeah, of course," Madison said.  
Emma ran upstairs. Why had someone else shown up? Were she and Ella stupid for thinking they could get their fathers back together? She got out her phone and sent Ella a text, "Call me when you can."  
Madison came into the bedroom a few minutes later. "Are you okay?"  
"Who is she?" Emma asked.  
"Ella..." Madison began.  
"What about my other dad?" Emma demanded. She'd been hoping to slip in something, but maybe she had to be direct.  
"What about him?" Madison asked. Of course, he still loved Clayton. He missed Clayton. He missed his other daughter. But he was too ashamed to call. He didn't even know what Clayton's number was now.  
"Why don't we ever talk about him?" Emma asked.  
"Ella, by now he's probably remarried and has kids," Madison said, voicing his fear. "I don't know where he is or anything." He hoped that wasn't the case, but he wouldn't be surprised.  
"What's his name?" Emma asked.  
Madison sighed. "His name is Clayton Kershaw." He hadn't said that name out loud in years. Just speaking that name made him feel so much sadness and regret. "But we're not talking about him right now. Why did you run upstairs like that?" He figured it was normal for his daughter to be upset about him dating someone. It was probably normal for a kid to be hesitant. But this upset? And what was up with the sudden questions about Clayton? Madison figured his daughter would probably feel a connection to him, but she'd never formally met him.  
Emma's chest felt tight. She was starting to sweat. Did Madison hate her already? Was she making him hate Ella? Was Ella going to be mad at her? "I'm sorry I freaked out like that." She took Madison's hand. "I love you."  
Madison gave his daughter a hug. "I love you, too. Maybe I shouldn't have had her over for dinner. We'll hang out tomorrow, just the two of us, okay?"  
Emma sighed with relief. Madison wasn't mad at her. "Yeah, I like the idea of that."


	7. Suspicions

Ella opened her phone and saw a text from Emma. Her first night with Clayton had been so much fun and she didn’t want to go to bed. After dinner and ping pong, they’d made ice cream sundaes and watched the latest episode of what was apparently Emma’s favorite TV show. (This show hadn’t been Ella’s cup of tea, but she pretended to be interested so Clayton wouldn’t get suspicious.) As Ella got ready for bed, she found herself getting a little homesick for the first time in weeks. She’d never gone this long without seeing Madison and she was already missing Emma. So she was thrilled when Emma asked her to call.

Getting ready for bed, Emma already felt overwhelmed. She didn’t expect to come to North Carolina and discover that Madison was dating someone. She didn’t want to ask too many questions when she was downstairs because she could tell Madison already thought it was strange that she ran upstairs like she did. And she’d talked about Clayton. Was that too soon? She tried to be friendly, but she could tell Charlotte didn’t like her. Charlotte constantly glared at her when Madison wasn’t looking. When he was around, she acted like she was interested in getting to know her boyfriend’s daughter, but Emma saw through that. When Ella called, she sighed with relief and picked up the phone, running into the closet. “Hey.”

“Oh my God!” Ella squealed. “He’s amazing! I can’t believe I’ve gone my whole life without knowing him! He took me to ping pong night, I can’t believe how hard it is, how do you do it? And he told me about how we were born - it turns out they hooked up at a party. I guess I was hoping for the cliche love story, but it’s kind of cool how we were the thing that brought them together. Then they fell in love!"

Fell in love. Was Madison in love with Charlotte? "Ella, maybe you should bring Daddy out here. I got Dad to say his name, but this woman came over..."

Ella had never gotten Madison to reveal Clayton's name. "Emma, that's something."

"This woman is bad news, she kept giving me dirty looks!" Emma said. "I don't know why Dad's with her, I don't think she even likes him. I wouldn't be surprised if she's just a gold digger. She thought you were a catcher, not a pitcher, so it's not like she even knows baseball and softball!"

Ella knew her dad didn't really fall in love. "You're getting worked up over nothing. You should just sabotage her. Play some pranks on her. Be rude to her."

"I just met Dad today, I don't want him to hate me," Emma admitted. "But I feel so clueless. I need you here to help and if he sees Daddy..."

"We'll come out eventually, but I want some time here," Ella said. "Look, don't worry, everything's going to be fine."

But Emma wasn't so sure. As she hung up the phone, she heard a knock on the door. "Come in."

Madison came into the bedroom. He could tell his daughter was upset that he'd had someone over. Maybe he shouldn't have dropped this on her right away. It wasn't like her to get this upset, but it wasn't like him to bring people over. "Are you sure you're okay, Ella?"

Emma tried to choose her words carefully. "What happened to it being just me and you?" Of course, that wasn't the goal, but if she brought up Clayton again, Madison might get annoyed.

Madison knew they'd tried to make it work with just the two of them, but it wasn't working. He missed Ella's other father and her sister too much. "Doesn't it feel like something's missing?" Yes, something was missing.

"Yeah, something is missing, and we were just talking about him," Emma said. "I know he has a name now."

What Madison wouldn't say out loud was that two somethings were missing. This was true. "Look, your other father is a wonderful person, but he's gone. I have no idea where he is. I think it's time we start a new chapter in our lives." He hoped she didn't realize how hard it was for him to say that. But after years of not seeing each other, maybe this was how it was supposed to be.

Emma could see the hurt in Madison's eyes. "What happened between you two? Why'd you break up?"

One day, she was going to ask these questions. "We were both young, a bit immature. We didn't even know until we hooked up that he could get pregnant, that there were men who could get pregnant at all. It was hard on us working in different cities. We tried to make it work, but it wasn't working."

"Did you love him?" Emma asked, pretty sure she knew the answer to that question.

"I could talk to him about things I could talk to no one else about," Madison admitted. "We finished each other's sentences. He got me in a way no one else did. On days I was pitching and we weren't playing each other, he'd make an exception and root for the Giants." Why had he let that go? Why hadn't he tried harder?

Emma felt a sense of hope. "Then why are you dating someone else?"

"Because he's gone," Madison said sadly. "I think that's enough questions for tonight. We'll hang out tomorrow, okay?"

"I love you," Emma said, feeling good that she'd gotten him to talk. She'd have to tell Ella about this.

Madison gave his daughter a kiss. "I love you, too."

* * *

 

Ella felt a nudge. For a moment, she forgot where she was, but then she rolled over and saw Clayton standing by the side of her bed. She was with the father she hadn't grown up knowing. "Good morning, Daddy."

Clayton gave his daughter a hug. "Good morning to you, too. You slept late." It wasn't like his daughter to sleep this late.

"Sorry, I was tired from the plane ride yesterday," Ella said. So, Emma got up earlier than she did. They probably should have talked about this.

"Don't worry about it," Clayton said. "So, I was wondering if you'd like to go see the Dodgers with me today. They're in town. Cody texted me this morning and said they'd love to see you."

In the past, Ella wouldn't want to see the Dodgers. But now that she knew her other father was a Dodger, she wanted to. She'd never seen them in person. "I'd love to! I'm going to tell the guys about how I threw a no-hitter on the first night at camp, just like you did!"

Clayton smiled to himself. He was definitely proud of his daughter and he was sure the guys would be, too. It had been a while since he'd seen them. His teammates had been so supportive after the breakup. They were some of the few people who knew the full story.

A little while later, Ella was doing something she thought she'd never do - putting on a Dodgers jersey. She couldn't wait to tell Emma that she was seeing the Dodgers. It was hard to contain her excitement on the way to the stadium. Not only had she never seen the Dodgers, but she'd also never been to the Rangers' stadium. "Wow!" she giggled as they pulled up.

"We've been here before," Clayton pointed out. His daughter had been gone a few weeks, but why was she acting like everything was so new?

"I know, but playing in a college stadium makes me appreciate major league stadiums," Ella giggled. "Come on, let's get in!" She really wanted to meet her dad's old teammates who were now on the staff.

As they made their way into the stadium, Ella took in the sight. She looked at the photos of the teams of the past on the walls. There was a photo of the 2010 Rangers, the 2010 American League champions, the team her father who'd raised her had beaten in the World Series. What would Madison think if he saw her in a Dodgers jersey now?

She followed Clayton on to the field, where the current Dodgers were warming up and where Clayton's old teammates were waiting.

"Emma, you've grown so much since we last saw you," said her dad's old teammate Cody Bellinger, who was now the Dodgers hitting coach.

"Well, it's been a while since I've seen you guys," Ella said, hoping it really had been a while.

"That's true, you're not the little girl you were last time I saw you," said Justin Turner, the current third base coach. "Your dad said you just got back from softball camp."

"Yeah, I pitched a no-hitter on the first night!" Ella said proudly. She ALMOST had, but right now, she was Emma, who had pitched the no-hitter.

Watching his daughter interact with his friends, Clayton felt sadness creeping up on him. The guys were right. She had grown. And wherever Ella was, she was growing, too. And he'd missed so much. He'd missed everything. Every time he looked into his daughter's eyes, he saw her other father. After all these years, he was still triggered. After all, he'd met his daughters' other father in their MLB days. Sometimes it was hard to see her pitch because something about her arm reminded him of Madison's. And every now and then, she'd do something Madison-like.

"Can I go say hi to the Dodgers themselves?" he heard his daughter ask excitedly.

"Of course," said Corey Seager, who'd become the bench coach. "I'm sure they'd love to meet the daughter of the greatest pitcher this team has ever seen." 

"Are you okay?" Cody asked Clayton once his daughter was out of earshot.

After all this time, they still knew each other so well. He might as well be honest. "Coming to these games always makes me think of him." He figured he'd admit it. "I still miss him. I still miss her. And I feel horrible that Emma's gone her whole life without knowing her other father and her sister. She's been asking me about him lately."

"It's natural to wonder," Corey said. "And it's natural to miss him and miss your other daughter."  
"Having her gone so long made me miss him and her sister more," Clayton admitted. "I've tried to figure out where he is, but he doesn't even seem to have any social media. And I can't stop wondering: does Ella know anything about me? I haven't talked much about Madison with Emma because it's so hard, but now she's asking, and I feel like a horrible father for.."

"Don't say that," Cody interrupted. "You're a great dad. You've done a great job with Emma."

"A few weeks before camp, she got her first period and I felt completely useless and clueless," Clayton admitted, remembering that day. Emma had been in tears, but never having been there, Clayton wasn't entirely sure how to deal with it. He'd ended up calling his mother for help. He looked at his daughter, who was talking to the guys. They seemed to be enjoying talking with her as well.

"Didn't you say she's a bit shy?" Justin asked. "She's definitely not acting shy."

He might as well tell the guys about the other thing that was on his mind. "She's acting a bit different these past 24 hours. Maybe it's because I haven't seen her in a while and I'm overreacting, but I don't know. She cut off about a foot of hair at camp. This is the girl who's terrified whenever I take her in for a trim. She couldn't play ping-pong last night, she ordered a bunch of toppings on her pizza, she slept a lot later than she normally does this morning, she's talking a lot more and my normally shy daughter wasn't bothered at all by the crowds or the noise last night and is out there chatting away with a bunch of professional athletes... it's all so weird." Or maybe he was overreacting to everything that had happened. Had her asking about Madison made him freak out too much?

"I think we need a guys' night out after the game, we can all get drinks," Justin said. "You're stressed out, but she's almost a teenager. Teenagers are unpredictable."

* * *

 

Emma had begun to feel better about last night. Madison hadn't mentioned Charlotte at all and she didn't want to bring up Charlotte. He'd taken Emma into town for lunch and as promised, they'd bought earrings. Emma tried to choose ones that she thought Ella would like. Now they were back at the farm, riding horses around the property. Emma tried not to give away that she hadn't ridden a horse since that carnival a few years back. At least the horse seemed unsuspecting that someone different was riding her.

"So, Ella, you met Charlotte last night," Madison began. Now that she'd relaxed, maybe they could talk more rationally than they had last night.

Emma tried to hide her disappointment. "What about her?"

"Did you like her?" Madison asked. He knew the answer to that question. He could tell she hadn't liked her.

"I don't think she liked me," Emma said. That was true.

"What makes you think that?" Madison asked. Charlotte had told him she was looking forward to meeting Ella. She hadn't said anything last night that made him think she didn't like his daughter.

Emma had a bad feeling she knew where this was going. Then she remembered something they'd told her when she rode the horse at the carnival. Don't kick the horse because it might start running. She gave her horse a hard kick on the side Madison couldn't see and indeed, the horse started running.

Madison tried to start his horse so he could catch up with his daughter, but she was too far ahead. He thought she'd calmed down, but she was upset again.

Emma finally reached the barn, where she got off the horse and then paced around the property. She had a feeling she knew what Madison wanted to talk to her about. Ella had told her that she shouldn't take this seriously, but it was clear this was serious. She just wished Ella were here. Ella knew Madison better and could probably think of a better way to deal with this. But Ella was off having fun with Clayton. Emma missed Clayton, too. But did Madison?

"Are you okay?" a voice said.

Emma turned and saw two men. These were the Brandons, Madison's friends from the Giants who were stopping by on their way back from vacation. Madison had mentioned they would be coming by later today, though this seemed earlier than expected.

"Yeah, just wasn't expecting you there," Emma said. "You're earlier than we thought you would be."

"Where's your dad?" Brandon Belt asked.

"He should be back soon, we were riding our horses and mine took off before his did," Emma said. That was true.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Brandon Crawford asked. "You look scared to death. Your father said you've been quieter and more nervous since you got home."

Crap, Madison had noticed a difference. Had Clayton noticed a difference, too? "I'm just tired, camp was pretty intense."

Neither Brandon looked like they believed that. "Okay," Brandon Belt said. "I was telling him, when your dad told me that, it made me wonder if you were..."

Brandon Crawford gave his husband a look. Had they repeated this to Madison? "Like I were what? Who?"

The Brandons exchanged a look. "Nothing, he was being ridiculous," Brandon Crawford said. "Come on, let's go wake up Johnny. He was excited to see the farm and he fell asleep on the way here..."

Emma had to know if she knew where this was going. "Like I were... Emma?"

The Brandons stopped in their tracks on the car to get their son. "You know about Emma? How?" Brandon Crawford asked.

Why had she said that? What if they said something to Madison? What if Madison got angry? What if he called Clayton? What if this caused a fight? Something had obviously happened to break them up before. Emma stared at her father's friends, who were obviously filled with emotion. They probably hadn't seen Emma since she was a baby.

Madison walked over. "Ella, I was trying to talk to you..." He noticed his friends. "You're here earlier than we expected..." Maybe he shouldn't talk about what was going on in front of his friends. But then he noticed the looks they were giving his daughter. "Why are you looking at her like that?"

"We just haven't seen her in a while and she's growing up so fast," Brandon Belt said.

Emma sighed with relief, glad they weren't blowing her cover. Then little Johnny Belt-Crawford came out of the car, obviously awake. "We're here?" he asked excitedly.

Brandon Belt looked at the little boy. "Yeah, we're here. Johnny, this is our friend Madison, and his daughter, Ella. You met them before, when you were two."

"Hi!" Johnny said. "I'm Johnny. I'm five."

"You're becoming a big boy," Madison said, envying the little boy's innocence. He missed the days when Ella was little and things were so much less complicated. Well, they'd always been complicated, but not like they'd been today. "Ella, want to show Johnny around the farm?" He needed to talk with his friends.

"Sure," Emma said. She liked kids. Maybe being with Johnny would help her relax.

Once his daughter had left with Johnny, Madison turned to the Brandons. "I don't know what's gotten into that girl."

"What do you mean?" Brandon Crawford asked. "You said she's been quieter, but anything else?"

"She's seemed very on edge since she got home," Madison admitted. "A lot less open. She was up super early this morning and she's acting like she's never seen the farm before." He might as well tell them. "I brought Charlotte home last night and she was so uncomfortable. I've never seen her more uncomfortable. And she's asked a lot about Clayton. When I tried talking to her about Charlotte, she just took off." He couldn't help but notice his friends looked uneasy.

"It's normal for her to wonder about Clayton," Brandon Crawford said. "I'm sure when Johnny's older, he's going to ask us about his birth mother. He already notices most of the kids at school have mommies and he doesn't."

"She's acting like I'm replacing Clayton," Madison said. "Clayton's gone." As much as he hated that, it was true. "He's been gone for years." He would rather be with Clayton than with Charlotte. Should he say that out loud?

The looks on his friends' faces made him wonder if they knew more than he did. Had they seen Clayton lately? He didn't even know where Clayton was, which was probably for the better. What if they knew something? What if Clayton had gotten married to someone else and had even more kids at this point?


	8. Ouch

Madison noticed his daughter had eased up a bit when the Brandons and Johnny were over. It had been the most relaxed he'd seen her since she'd gotten home. He'd gotten worried about her, but maybe there was nothing to worry about. She'd said she was tired and that all the workouts at camp had tired her out, so maybe that was all and he was getting worried about nothing.

"It was really nice to see your friends yesterday," Emma said as she and Madison watched the car leave. It had been fun to meet some of Madison's friends. She knew that Ella had met some of Clayton's friends and that Clayton's mother was coming over for dinner tonight.

"It was, wasn't it?" Madison asked. "I wish I saw my friends from the Giants more, they've loved you since you were a baby."

Emma made a mental note of being thankful that the Brandons hadn't blown her cover. She hadn't told Ella that she'd told them.

Before Madison had a chance to respond, another car pulled in and Charlotte got out. Every time Emma thought she was gone, she came back.

Charlotte came over to Madison and threw herself at him, kissing him passionately. Madison missed Clayton's kisses. They felt better and they were never this over the top. He missed Clayton. 

"Hi Maddie," Charlotte said over the top enthusiastically. She looked over at Emma with a look of disgust. "Hi Ella."

"I wasn't expecting you," Madison said.

"Do I need an excuse to come see my man?" Charlotte asked, tightening her grip around Madison. "And my favorite girl?"

"I kind of wanted some time with my dad," Emma managed to say. "I haven't seen him in weeks."

"You hung out with him yesterday," Charlotte said. "But I was also coming to see you. I think we need some girl bonding. Want to go shopping and to the spa with me?"

Girl bonding? Emma's stomach tightened.

Madison knew his daughter was a bit uncomfortable, but maybe some time with Charlotte would be good for her. "I bet she'd love that, wouldn't you, Ella?" He winked. "You girls can take my credit card."

Emma didn't want to hang out with Charlotte. But maybe some time with her would help her see what it was Madison saw in her. "Sure."

* * *

 

After spending the afternoon with Charlotte, Emma was even more confused as to why Madison was with her.  
She'd never been a fan of clothes shopping. Of course, this trip wasn't really for Emma. It was mostly Charlotte buying things for herself, occasionally suggesting things for "Ella." Emma hated everything Charlotte suggested, but she sucked it up and agreed to buy a few of them. The spa was even less pleasant. The eyebrow wax was painful and she was sure her skin was red. The polish for the manicure and pedicure smelled weird. And whatever they were using for the facial was making her skin itchy.  
As they were leaving the spa, Emma told Charlotte she was tired and wanted to go home. She was sure Madison wouldn't be happy that Charlotte had bought so much stuff with his credit card. Charlotte looked annoyed, but said her arms were getting full anyway.  
"I know you're not happy that I'm with your father, but face it, it's not just the two of you anymore," Charlotte said as they began to drive back to the farm.  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Emma asked, knowing perfectly well what that meant.  
"I'd think this would make you happy, your mom doesn't seem to be around," Charlotte said. "Your father can't talk about girly things with you and he can't do girl things with you. And he's the type of man I always wanted to marry!"  
It sounded like Charlotte didn't know that Madison had been with a man. But if she said something, it could ruin things. Something else Charlotte had said stood out to her though. "Yeah, I'm sure he is. He's a great guy and he's a lot of fun, isn't he?"  
Charlotte looked relieved Emma hadn't said something else. "Yeah, he is." She didn't sound genuine though.  
"And you seemed to have fun with his credit card," Emma pointed out.  
Charlotte glared and stopped the car. "Are you indicating that I like your father for his money?" She didn't look happy.  
"I can think of MILLIONS of reasons why you'd want to marry my father," Emma shot back.  
Charlotte didn't say another word during the rest of the drive home. That was a relief to Emma. She didn't know why Madison was dating Charlotte, but she knew he deserved so much better. Even if the girls were unsuccessful, she didn't want her sister stuck with this woman.  
Finally, the car pulled into the driveway. Emma knew she had to call Ella right away. They needed to move on to Phase Two.  
As Emma got out of the car, the door slammed on her hand. She heard a noise she hadn't heard before and her fingers hurt even more than they did when she caught that foul ball in her non-gloved hand. She looked down. They were already swelling.  
Emma gulped. If she'd injured herself too badly, she'd need to go to the hospital and they really would have to reveal what they'd done. How would Clayton and Madison react? Maybe now she had no choice. Her fingers hurt so much. Maybe she didn't have to go to the doctor. Maybe it seemed like they hurt more than they did because she was upset.  
She clutched her fingers as she followed Charlotte into the house.  
"Did you girls have fun?" Madison asked. He hoped that this day would be good for his girlfriend and daughter. Maybe if they started getting along, he'd stop feeling so hesitant. He was lying to himself if he told himself he thought dating again was a good idea. He was lonely, but he knew he didn't feel a connection. He hoped one would start, but it wasn't happening. It definitely wasn't helping that she didn't get along with his daughter.  
"Oh, yeah," Charlotte said, throwing herself at Madison and kissing him passionately.  
Emma resisted the urge to throw up.  
Madison's eyes fell on his daughter. "Ella, your skin is so red..." Her skin was red. And she had that look on her face that she had every time Charlotte came over, a mixture of disgust, annoyance, sadness, and fear.  
"Yeah, have you ever gotten her brows waxed before, Maddie?" Charlotte asked. "They looked awful!"  
"Don't insult my daughter," Madison demanded. Looked awful? She was beautiful, like her father who'd carried her, and hopefully, like her sister, too. "And don't make changes to my daughter's appearance without consulting with me first." He noticed she was clutching her hands together. "Why don't you just go home and let me have some time with Ella?" He knew he needed to talk to her.  
"Dad," Emma began. Then she stopped herself. She couldn't say it.  
"What is it?" Madison asked.  
The pain in Emma's fingers was getting worse. "I really didn't like getting my brows waxed." She knew some of the girls at school had started getting theirs done, but she'd heard wax was painful. She now knew it was. It hadn't hurt as much as the car door.  
"Can you go home?" Madison asked, turning to face Charlotte. "If you really respect me, you'll realize that I need time with my daughter."  
Charlotte left, but Emma knew she didn't respect Madison. "I really don't like her," Emma managed to say.  
"Maybe I shouldn't have suggested you go out with her," Madison sighed. "I'm sorry."  
Emma leaned up against Madison, still clutching her fingers. "I love you, Ella," Madison said softly. "You know that, right?"  
"I love you too," Emma said.  
Madison couldn't help but notice his daughter hadn't unclutched her hands. "Honey, did something happen to your hand?"  
Crap. He noticed. "Just stressed."  
Madison pulled his daughter's hands apart and noticed his daughter's fingers had turned a bit black and blue. "This looks bad." It reminded him of the time he broke his finger during spring training.  
Emma hoped the pain would pass. "It's fine." No, it wasn't.  
"Can you make a fist for me?" Madison asked.  
With all her might, Emma made a fist and then released it. At least she could still bend her fingers.  
Maybe it was just that she was upset. "We'll see how you're feeling tomorrow, okay?"  
Emma sighed with relief. "Okay." Hopefully, she would feel better soon.

* * *

 

"Hi, Grandma!" Ella said excitedly, running into her grandmother's arms. She tried not to give it away that this was the first time she was meeting her other grandmother. "It's so good to see you!"  
"It's good to see you too, sweetie," Marianne said, hugging her granddaughter. "Your father and I missed you a lot this summer."  
Ella smiled. She was finally meeting the other side of her family. "Oh, you have no idea! I had a great time at camp, but it's so nice to be home! When you go away to camp, you really appreciate home more..."  
Clayton listened as his daughter began to talk about camp to his mother. She had so much enthusiasm and so much energy lately. Not that this bothered him, but she was normally very low key. He figured he'd leave his daughter and mother together to talk as he went to the kitchen to finish getting dinner lately. Would she like this dinner? Lately, he didn't know what she liked and what she didn't like.  
As Clayton brought the food out, Ella's phone vibrated. It was a text from Emma. "911. Call me ASAP." She knew her sister was prone to worrying, but she felt like she should answer this call. Just answering the call might help Emma feel better. "My friend said this is urgent," Ella said, hoping Emma was okay. "Do you mind if I take this call?"  
"Go ahead," Clayton said. Another change. His daughter, who had always said he was her best friend, had become a social butterfly. She was always on the phone or texting with girls she'd met at camp. As he watched his daughter run outside, he turned to his mother.  
"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Marianne asked her son. "You look like you're going to faint."  
"Have you noticed she's acting differently tonight?" Clayton asked. "Maybe I'm overreacting, but she's changed a lot. More talkative, more energy, less shy, different appetite, different sleep schedule, different haircut..."  
"Well, of course," Marianne said. "You shouldn't be hard on her about it though. We were hoping she could blossom at camp and it seems like she has. She was telling me about how close she got with the other girls at camp, especially her roommate."  
Her roommate. Then it suddenly hit Clayton like a ton of bricks: had it been Emma he'd picked up at the airport and had been with him for the past week? Emma's roommate's name had been Ella and she was from North Carolina. Was it possible? Could the roommate have been Ella? Had the girls met up and switched places? "Now it all makes sense," Clayton thought out loud. "The haircut, the way she couldn't play ping pong, the way she's acting like she's seeing everything for the first time, the changes in her appetite, getting up later, talking more... Mom, I don't think that's Emma. I think that might be Ella." Did he sound crazy? Was he crazy?  
His mother didn't look like she thought he was crazy. "She acted like she'd never seen me before."  
Clayton nodded. "That's how she's acted whenever we've gone anywhere since she got home." Then he realized what this meant. "So, I think this means Ella's here with me and Emma's with Madison." He took a breath. "We shouldn't have done this. They wouldn't have had to do this. What were we thinking?" He then knew what he needed to do. "I'll be right back."  
He bolted into the backyard, where his daughter was on her phone. Should he say anything? He could already feel himself sweating. What was he supposed to say? What if he was wrong and this was just Emma acting differently, what if she really had changed?  
Well, even if he was wrong in this theory, he was going to tell her the truth. He couldn't keep it from her anymore. And then they would find a way to get in touch with Madison so the girls could meet each other for real. He missed Ella way too much anyway and he was sure Madison would want to meet Emma.

* * *

 

Emma waited for the phone to stop ringing. Finally, Ella picked up. "What's up?"  
"Ella, you guys need to get here! Immediately!"  
"Is this about that woman Dad brought over?" Ella asked. She didn't want to sound worried because it was clear Emma was upset. However, she had a feeling this was what her sister was upset about.  
"She's awful, Ella!" Emma said. "I don't know why Dad's with her, but she's just awful! And somehow, he sees something in her! If we want our dads to get back together, you need to get Daddy out here immediately! And I think I might have broken my finger but I can't go to the hospital as you..."  
Crap. That threw a wrench in things. Everything had been going so well here. If Ella revealed what had happened, would Madison and Clayton be angry? But Emma was right. If Emma really was hurt, they'd have to reveal who they really were. "Are you sure you're okay?"  
"I hope so," Emma sighed as she told the story of what happened today. She felt so guilty. Maybe instead of switching places, she and Ella should have just tried talking to their fathers.  
"It's all going to be okay," Ella said. "I promise, we'll get out there tomorrow." Since Emma was upset, she didn't want to say that she was also starting to get nervous. What was she supposed to say? Sooner or later, they'd have to say something, but now that it was real, she didn't know what to say or do.  
Trying to think of what to say, Ella hung up her phone and turned to go back to dinner, only to see Clayton standing in front of her.


	9. Truth

Clayton listened to what his daughter was saying. Something about needing to get out there tomorrow. Get where? Get to wherever Madison was now? It sounded like something was wrong, but what was wrong? All he knew was that he needed to talk to his daughter. When she turned around, he saw the worried look on her face.  
Ella looked up at Clayton. How much had he heard? She could tell by the look on his face that something was up. "Daddy..." she began. What was she supposed to say? Sooner or later she'd have to do this, but she didn't know how to do it.  
Clayton took his daughter's hand. "You know I love you, right? And you know you can always come to me about anything, right?" Maybe his theory was wrong. But it seemed like she was upset about something.  
"I love you too," Ella said. She felt tears coming to her eyes. She might as well give him confirmation.  
She was about to cry simply telling him that she loved him. That made Clayton even more sure. "I've loved you your whole life."  
Ella gulped. "You know, don't you?" Your whole life... why would he say that to the daughter he'd raised? "I'm not Emma." She looked up at him. "I'm Ella." She looked down again, afraid to make eye contact. "Just don't be mad at me and Emma. We were roommates at camp and we figured it out. I wanted to meet you and Emma wanted to meet Dad, so I came here and she went to North Carolina."  
Clayton pulled Ella over and began rubbing her back. "I've never stopped loving you or missing you. I've thought about you every day. Of course I'm not mad. You two should be mad at us." He was mad at himself. Why had they decided this was the solution?  
Should she tell him Emma was hurt? He'd told her for the first time as her that he loved her. It felt so good. But there were things that needed to be dealt with. "So, I guess you need to switch us back now, huh?"  
Clayton's heart broke at the thought of losing Ella again. "Well, we do have to let Madison know somehow." Madison. Switching the girls back would mean seeing Madison again. How was he? Had he found someone else? He'd wanted to see Madison for years, but now that it was a real possibility, he was freaking out. He couldn't let Ella know that though.  
"Yeah," Ella said. "Emma's hurt. She thinks she might have broken her finger and she can't go have it looked at as me."  
Emma was hurt? Clayton felt his paternal instincts clicking in. Emma was hurt and he hadn't been there to tell her she was going to be okay. "Is she okay?"  
"She can't have it looked at until you both know the truth," Ella said. "We should probably get there."  
"Yeah, and Madison should know," Clayton said.  
"I think Emma's telling him," Ella lied. She didn't want to reveal the other reason they had to get to North Carolina. "Can you promise me something?"  
Clayton kissed his daughter's cheek. "Anything."  
"Promise me I won't lose you again," Ella said. "I can't be without you and Emma." She hoped that would give him a hint.  
"I promise," Clayton said. He couldn't stand the idea of being without Ella again either. "I missed you so much." He wanted to cry, but he couldn't. Not when Ella was crying. "I've missed way too much already."

* * *

 

"Thanks for coming over," Madison said as his parents came in. The Brandons had noticed that his daughter was a bit of a wreck, but they didn't know her as well as his parents did. Maybe she would talk to them since she wouldn't talk to him.  
"Of course," Madison's mother, Debbie, said. "But honey, maybe you're worrying so much. She's about to enter her teen years. Teenagers have mood swings. You did."  
"This is different," Madison said. "She's scared to death all the time and she won't talk to me. The Brandons noticed that she wasn't herself and they haven't seen her in years."  
Emma heard some talking downstairs, though she couldn't hear what was being said. She knew her grandparents were coming over for dinner, so maybe they were here. It would be nice to meet them. Trying to put the pain in her fingers out of her mind, she went downstairs and smiled when she saw her grandparents. "Hi Grandma, hi Grandpa! It's so good to see you!"  
"There she is!" Madison's father, Kevin, said, picking Emma up. "We missed you!"  
"I missed you guys too!" Emma said.  
"So, how was camp?" Debbie asked.  
"I loved it," Emma began.  
Madison watched his daughter. She was chatting with his parents, but it still seemed like something wasn't quite right. For one thing, she was clutching her fingers. She wanted to wait until morning to see how she was feeling, but he didn't have a good feeling about this. The makeshift splint they'd made probably wasn't enough.  
Emma felt her phone vibrate. She looked and recognized the number right away. When she saw the number, she knew what that meant. Ella had come clean. Clayton had found out.  
"Can I go to the bathroom?" Emma asked, hoping Madison hadn't noticed her looking at her phone. "I'll be right back."  
"Go ahead," Madison said. As soon as she was gone, he turned to his parents. "Well?"  
"It's not just you," Debbie said. "She's definitely acting differently."  
"I just wish she'd talk to me," Madison sighed. "I wonder if something happened at camp or something, or if she's just upset that I'm dating again."  
"Why are you dating Charlotte?" Kevin asked.  
"I don't know," Madison admitted. He did know. It was because he still missed Clayton, but he didn't think there was hope for a reunion and he didn't want to be alone. If he couldn't tell his parents that, he was probably being hypocritical by being upset that his daughter wouldn't go to him about whatever was upsetting her.  
"Then if you don't know and if she and Ella don't get along, maybe that should tell you something," Kevin told his son.  
"Yeah," Madison mumbled. "Every time I try to talk to her about Charlotte, she freaks out. I'm beginning to wonder, does she have an anxiety issue that we didn't know about until now or something? None of this makes sense.

* * *

 

Emma ran upstairs into her - Ella's - bathroom and dialed the number that had called her phone. Why else would Clayton have her number unless Ella had told him the truth?  
When Clayton found out that Ella and Emma had switched and that Emma was hurt, he knew one thing: he needed to talk to Emma. He'd already booked a flight for him and Ella to get to North Carolina tomorrow and he figured that since Ella was getting to know his mom, now would be a good time for him to call Emma. Emma didn't pick up at first, but now she was calling back. "Emma?" Clayton said, picking up the phone.  
"Daddy, I missed you so, so much," Emma said. As much as she had come to love Madison over the past few days, she missed the father who'd raised her. "So, Ella told you?"  
"Yeah, she did," Clayton said. "And I've missed you too. How are you?"  
Emma didn't want to mention Charlotte. Other than Charlotte, her time here had been great. "Dad is so cool! I love the farm and this is such an awesome little town!"  
She sounded happy, but Clayton was still worried. "I'm glad you're having fun, but Ella told me you got hurt. Are you okay?"  
Emma figured she should admit it. "My fingers really hurt, but I can't go to the doctor as Ella... I'm sorry. I know we shouldn't have done this, but we both really wanted to meet the dad we didn't grow up with."  
"You guys don't have to keep apologizing," Clayton interrupted. "I'm sorry. Is your father home?" He liked the idea of talking with Madison. "We'll figure something out. We should have figured something out years ago, not this."  
"He's not home," Emma lied. "I'll tell him when he gets home and I'll tell him you're getting here tomorrow."  
Clayton tried to hide in his disappointment that he couldn't talk to Madison right now. "Okay. We'll see you tomorrow. Love you!"  
Emma was relieved Clayton wasn't angry. "Okay. I love you too." She went back downstairs. She probably should tell Madison, but how would he react?

* * *

 

Madison was about to go upstairs to check on his daughter when she came back downstairs. She was nervous around the family now, too. He was beginning to feel worse and worse. "Sorry about that."   
"Don't apologize," Madison said.  
Emma sat down and began to eat. "The food is really good."  
"I'm glad you still like your favorite restaurant," Madison pointed out. With how different things were, he wasn't sure if she would still like this food.  
The girls had similar taste buds in some ways, apparently. "Of course I do!" Hoping Madison wouldn't get suspicious, she turned to her grandparents. "I struck out EVERY batter I faced at least once at camp." She knew Ella was proud of that fact.  
Now she was sounding like her old self. Maybe there was hope.


	10. Urgent Care

"I think you're excited to see someone," Ella said. "And not just Emma."  
"No."  
"Yes."  
Clayton could tell his daughter knew what he was thinking. "I don't know how to feel. I haven't seen or heard from your other father since you girls were a few months old, but I never stopped thinking about him. I watched every one of his games. I tried to find photos of him and of you, but he's not on social media, so I looked up his family and friends..."  
"You are so sappy," Ella giggled. She was going to repeat this to Emma.  
"Oh really?" Clayton asked.  
"You still love him, don't you?" Ella asked, her grin widening. Once Madison saw Clayton again, the bitchy girlfriend would be out of the picture.  
Yes. He did. But that wasn't what this trip was about. "I'm going here so we can get Emma taken care of and so we can figure out a better arrangement, a way for you guys to see each other more, for me to see you more, for him to see Emma more."  
Ella could tell her father was lying. "Keep telling yourself that."  
The father and daughter reached the front of the line for a rental car, cutting off the conversation. But Ella texted Emma while Clayton was getting a rental car, telling her what he'd said.

* * *

 

Madison knocked on the door of his daughter's bedroom. He would have expected her to be up by now. When he heard no response, he went into her room. She was asleep in her bed, clutching her pillow. Her fingers were swollen. If she wasn't up soon, he'd have to wake her up and take her to the doctor.  
He drove to the store to pick up a few things, hoping she'd be up by the time he got home. He didn't know why she wouldn't talk to him, but he hoped she would because she was starting to get very worried.  
As he entered the store, he stopped in his tracks.  
Because he was pretty sure Clayton Kershaw was here.  
Seriously, what the hell?  
Clayton looked over his shoulder. He and Ella had stopped at the convenience store to pick up some things before Ella called Madison. But Madison was here.  
Madison couldn't take his eyes off Clayton. He couldn't believe his ex-boyfriend was here. The past twelve years had done him good. He was still so handsome. Should he go say something to him?  
Clayton looked at Madison, who was staring at him as if he had three heads. He gave him a small smile and wave, and then Madison's eyes got bigger. Wait. Wasn't Madison supposed to know they were coming? It didn't look like he knew.  
Madison walked over to Clayton. He'd smiled, so he probably wasn't opposed to talking. "Whoa," he said, not knowing what else to say. "Hi."  
"Hi. You look... good." What was he supposed to say to his ex-boyfriend? Ella had told him that Madison was expecting them to arrive, but he didn't seem to be expecting Clayton to be in the same city.  
"You do too," Madison gulped, his hands becoming sweaty. What was Clayton doing here? Did he know that Madison was still living here? Was he going to ask if he could meet Ella? And then the biggest question of all - was Emma here, too? "I... I can't believe you're here."  
So it was confirmed. Madison didn't know Clayton and Ella were coming, and probably didn't know about the switch, either. What should he say? Should he try to keep things casual and then break it? "So, how are you?"  
Why was Clayton being so calm? And why did he not seem surprised at all? "I'm shocked to see you, but you don't seem shocked to see me," Madison began. "I guess you could have guessed I still live here, but this isn't exactly a tourist town..."  
Ella stepped over. She'd gone to another aisle to pick up some candy and now saw her dads together. And she loved the looks they were giving each other. "Dad, I can tell you what's going on."  
Madison turned to his daughter. When had she gotten here? How had she gotten here? "Ella, what are you doing here? And you know who this is?"  
Ella nodded nervously. "Yeah. This is my other father. I've also been living with him for the past week."  
Living with him for the past week? "What? How did you find him? And how is it possible that you've been..." Then it hit him. Could it be?  
Ella had hoped she and Emma could explain it together, but since they hadn't expected this, she might have to do it. "Well, at camp, my roommate was Emma Kershaw. We hated each other at first, but then we found out we were twins and..." Her eyes filled with tears. She looked at both her fathers, both of whom were also tearing up. "And we decided to switch places so we could each meet the dad we didn't grow up with."  
"Can you believe it?" Clayton asked, putting his arm around Ella. "The girls met."  
Madison looked at his daughter hugging her other father, a sight he thought he'd never see. "Ella, you were in Texas this past week?"  
Ella managed to smile through her tears. "Yeah. He's amazing, but I missed you."  
Madison pulled his daughter into his arms. "I can't believe it." Then he realized something else. "Wait, if you were in Texas, that means Emma was here all this time?"  
"Yeah," Ella said. "I'm sorry. She was going to tell you but she got scared."  
"That's why we came out here," Clayton began. "I know about what happened to Emma yesterday and I'm worried. And she can't go to the doctor as Ella." He looked at Madison.   
"Right," Madison agreed. "You did such a great job with her. She's amazing."  
"I can say the same for this one," Clayton agreed, giving Ella another hug.

* * *

 

Emma went downstairs to discover that the house was empty. She saw a note from Madison on the table that he had gone to the store. That gave Emma some time to prepare something to say. She knew that Clayton and Ella had gotten in, but she wasn't sure what was going on. Maybe they were checking into a hotel or something. What would happen this week? Who would stay at the hotel, her or Ella?  
And her fingers still hurt. Probably even worse than yesterday. She went to the freezer and put some ice cubes in a washcloth, holding them to her fingers.  
And then she heard the door open. She forgot the pain for a moment when she saw the father who'd raised her. "Daddy!" Emma cried, running over to Clayton and wrapping her arms around him. It had been so long since she'd seen him. "I missed you so much."  
"Emma, I missed you so much, too," Clayton mumbled, rubbing his daughter's back. "Are you okay? Let me look at those fingers."  
Emma sighed. The truth was out. She held out her hand.  
Clayton's heart skipped a beat when he looked at Emma's fingers. He'd seen it all in his MLB days, but this seemed worse than anything he'd seen before. "We need to get you to the hospital."  
Emma then realized that this meant Madison knew. "So, you know?" she asked, looking at her other father.  
"I can't believe it was you with me all this time," Madison said.  
Emma smiled as she went over to hug Madison. "I love you."  
"I love you too," Madison said. "I've really enjoyed having you here with me this week. I'm pretty impressed you two pulled this off."  
"Well, you two are the ones who came up with this," Emma pointed out. "If you two hadn't done that, we wouldn't have done this."  
Clayton and Madison exchanged a look. She had a point. What were they supposed to say? They'd had this coming for twelve years.  
Ella was relieved that Emma had been the one to say it first. "She's right, you know. Whatever happened, was it really bad enough that you had to split us up?"  
There was no way to answer that. "It was pretty convenient that it was twins so you could each keep a souvenir from your spring training hookup," Emma continued.  
Ella looked at Clayton. "Why did you pick her?"  
Then Emma looked at Madison. "Why did you pick her?"  
The girls' words hit their fathers like a line drive. They deserved this. "There are no excuses for what we did," Clayton began. How was he supposed to explain this? "I don't know what there is to say? We tried to make it work. But neither of us were really prepared or ready. I'm not trying to justify it. I'd be angry if I were you girls, too, and I've regretted it for the past twelve years."  
"That's how I feel too," Madison added. The girls might as well know the story of that awful night. "There's a reason I don't like thunderstorms, Ella." He gulped and told the girls the story of that night, how he got in late from the game, how they'd started arguing over what to do, and how Emma had woken up crying, hadn't stopped crying when Madison held her, and then stopped when Clayton held her, and how that had made him decide that this wasn't working, how he'd thrown his things together and left with Ella.  
Hearing this story hurt Emma more than her fingers were hurting. "So it was because of me." She forced herself to look at her sister. "I'm so sorry, Ella. This happened because of me."  
"Emma, don't say that," Madison interrupted. "This isn't your fault. We were the ones who did this."  
"I think I'm going to throw up," Emma admitted.  
Clayton began rubbing Emma's back. "I don't want you to be mad at yourself. Be mad at us."  
"And I'm not mad at you," Ella said, going over to hug her sister. "I'm glad I have you back now."  
There was so much that had to be addressed. "Girls, we're not going to keep you apart anymore," Madison said. "We'll figure something out."  
Something? Something that would hopefully involve finding a way for all four of them to be together.  
"That's what we should have done," Clayton added. "But before we go through the legal stuff, we need to get Emma to a doctor." And the girls would probably both need to see therapists as well. He'd needed therapy right after the breakup. If they'd gone to therapy in the first place, maybe this could have been avoided.  
On the car ride to the urgent care center, the girls kept noticing the looks their fathers were giving each other, the glances they kept stealing. The fathers asked their daughters about camp, trying to keep them at ease, but they were unaware that the girls were watching their every move.  
Emma got nervous when they arrived at the urgent care center, but she felt some comfort knowing she had both her fathers and her sister with her. Even as the doctor was checking her out, she kept looking over at her fathers and saw that they kept stealing glances at each other. When she looked over at Ella, her sister gave her a big grin, telling her that she wasn't the only one noticing.  
The doctor sent Clayton, Madison and Ella into the waiting area so x-rays could be done. "So, is it nice to see each other again?" Ella asked her fathers.  
"Yes, it is," Madison said. It was. He saw that his daughter was grinning. "And it's nice having both of you here."  
"You two seem happy to see each other," Ella pointed out.  
"Like he just said, we are happy to see each other," Clayton said. He knew what his daughter was getting at. It was pretty clear she wanted her fathers together. He and Madison had tried things before and everything had gone wrong. He'd never stopped thinking about Madison or missing him. His feelings never went away. Before everything fell apart, Madison made him feel loved and special and wanted in a way nobody ever had before. He'd had some time to grow up and learn from his mistakes and he was sure Madison had, too. But would Madison want to try things again after everything went so wrong before? Not to mention they both had lives established.  
Madison looked over at Clayton again. How was it possible to not age at all after twelve years? He was still perfect. And Madison could also tell he was an amazing father by the way he acted with Ella and Emma. He never expected anything less. Sometimes he thought the feelings might be going away, but now that he'd seen Clayton again, he knew the feelings would never be gone.  
"You're all here for Emma Kershaw?" a doctor asked, stepping into the waiting area.  
"Yeah, we're her fathers and this is her sister," Madison confirmed. "How is she?"  
"Well, her fingers are definitely broken," the doctor said.  
"Fingers?" Clayton gasped. "Plural?" His daughter had broken more than one finger? He'd noticed swelling in three, but he'd hoped that all three weren't broken.  
"Yeah, her middle finger is broken in two places, and then her index finger and her pinky," the doctor continued. "She'll be fine. We've just got to set her fingers." He looked at Madison and Clayton. "I'll need one of you to sign the forms."  
Then it hit Madison. "You'd better do it." This was a cruel reminder of what they'd done. He had no claims to Emma whatsoever and legally, he was a complete stranger to her. He felt sick. He felt even more sick knowing it was his "girlfriend's" fault that his daughter had three broken fingers.  
Clayton noticed the pain in Madison's eyes. "Okay, I'll do it." Then he realized, if this was Ella, Madison would need to be the one to sign the papers. Basically, because of the stupid decision, they legally each were not a father to one of the girls they'd helped create. This needed to be fixed. As much as twelve years of damage could be fixed, anyway. He signed the papers and handed them to the doctor, who undoubtedly had no idea how messed up this situation was. After he handed over the papers, he sat down and looked over at Madison and Ella. "She'll be okay."  
Madison tried to give Clayton a reassuring look. "We both had some pretty bad injuries back in the day, and we were always fine." Then he thought about the circumstances under which Emma had hurt herself. He needed to end things with Charlotte. Seeing Clayton again reminded him there was only one person who he wanted to be with.  
Clayton noticed the look on Madison's face. He wanted to hug him. Or hold his hand. Maybe that would be overstepping things. So he put his hand on Madison's knee and began rubbing it, hoping he wasn't overstepping things.  
Madison liked the way that felt. By feeling Clayton's touch, he felt a sense of serenity he hadn't felt in a while. He put his hand on top of Clayton's and smiled at him.  
Clayton had worried he'd overstepped things by putting his hand on Madison's knee. But seeing that smile again made him smile wider than he'd smiled in a while.  
Little did they know, Ella was watching. She was definitely going to tell Emma about this exchange.  
"If you guys want to see her, you can go back in the room," the doctor said.  
Ella jumped up and went into the room. Madison and Clayton smiled at each other, glad to see that their daughters cared for each other. When they got in, they noticed that her fingers were in a split, but she looked surprisingly happy for someone who had broken three fingers. Happier than she'd looked all week.  
"How are you feeling?" Clayton asked Emma, giving her a quick kiss.  
"Better," Emma admitted. "Especially since I have all of you with me."  
"That's what we like to hear," Madison said. "How about we all go get some lunch?"


End file.
